The Quintessence Of Nehru

THE QUINTESSENCE OF NEHRU

The Quintessence

of

NEHRU

Selected and with Introduction

by

K. T. NARASIMHA CHAR

Rtiskin House

GEORGE ALLEN & UNWIN LTD

MUSEUM STREET • LONDON

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Acknowledgments are made to the following for granting
permission for reproducing extracts from the following
books :

Messrs Seeker & Warburg Ltd., London and Mr. Tibor
Mende in respect of selections from Conversations With Mr,
Nehru; The Asia Publishing House, Bombay for extracts
from A Bunch of Old Letters; Messrs Meridian Books Ltd.,
for selections from The Discovery of India; The Signet Press,
Calcutta for extracts from The Discovery of India and Nehru
on Gandhi; Messrs George Allen & Unwin Ltd., London for
selections from India and the World; Messrs John Lane, The
Bodley Head, London for selections from An Auto-
biography; Chetana Ltd., Bombay for extracts from Soviet
Russia; the Government of India for selections from Inde-
pendence and After^ Speeches 1949-53^ and Speeches
(1953-57); the proprietors of The Hindu, Madras for extracts
from speeches reported therein.

PREFACE

I do not think any apology is needed for the publication of a
book of this kind containing the best selections from the writ-
ings and speeches of Jawaharlal Nehru. I have attempted here-
in to give an idea of the many facets of his fascinating person-
ality — as a statesman and scholar, as a leader of his people
loved next only to Mahatma Gandhi, as a torchbearer of free-
dom to the oppressed everywhere, as a lover of nature and of
children. Like his great master he is interested in everything
that contributes towards the welfare and happiness of his fel-
lowmen, whether in his own country or in the farthest comers
of the globe. He has dedicated himself to the service of
humanity and stands out head and shoulders above the poli-
ticians and the statesmen of the world today. If this book
serves as a key to the rich treasure house of Jawaharlal Nehru s
wisdom and achievement, my purpose in editing it will have
been amply fulfilled.

I express my gratitude to Sri Jawaharlal Nehm for his kind
permission to make this selection from his writings and
speeches.

K, T. Narasimha Char

BIBLIOGRAPHY

WORK FIRST FITBLISHCED

Sovnet Russia 1929

Glimpses of World History 1934

Autobiography 1936

India and the World 1936

The Unity of India 1944

The Di^co-oery of India 1946

Independence and After 1949

Nehru on Gandhi 1949

Speeches 1949-S3 1954

Speeches 1953-57 1958

Conversations W^ith Mr. Nehru 1956

A Bunch of Old Letters 1958

CONTENTS

Introduction

page 13

Myself

25

My Country

38

Indians Struggle For Freedom

51

Ends and Means

57

Truth

61

Non-violence

68

Nationalism and Internationalism

75

Panchsheel

81

One World

85

The United Nations Organization

89

A Commonwealth of Nations

96

Fascism and Nazism

103

Art

108

Education

112

Culture

118

Science and Technology

123

The Industrial Age

129

Planning

135

Socialism

140

Freedom

146

Democracy

150

Government and Politics

155

India and World Affairs

161

The Renascence of Asia

170

Prison Life

175

Religion

179

Nature

189

Peace

194

Women and Children

198

Happiness and Health

203

The United States of America

page 207

Newspapers

214

Life and Letters

219

Work

232

Men and Women

237

The Spirit of Man

258

NOTES ON PERSONALITIES

INDEX

263

12

Introduction

It is a truism of history that no great king of a country has
been followed by an equally able son, no great leader of a
nation has left a worthy disciple to fulfil his ideals, Philip
of Macedon and his son Alexander the Great afford an
exception to this in the past while the case Mahatma Gandhi
and Jawaharlal Nehru is another in recent times. Yet the con-
trast between the master and the follower as well as the
common traits in their character are too remarkable to pass
unnoticed — ^in^their mental make-up, in their attitude to hfe,
in their approach to the problems of humanity, Mahatma
Gandhi was a man devoutly wedded to the ideals of ancient
India, drawing his inspiration from them throughout his life
and career, pointing to his people that the path to freedom
lay only through Truth and Non-violence, Jawaharlal Nehiu,
on the other hand, is a product of Harrow and Cambridge;
his outlook on life is more intellectual than spiritual, though
he also adheres to the great principles preached and prac-
tised by his master: a scientific background is evident from
his ideas, hardly inspired by a fond clinging to the past. Yet it
must not be thought that Jawaharlal Nehru was chosen by
the gods to become the disciple of Mahatma Gandhi by sheer
accident or that the exigencies of India's struggle for freedom
catapulted him into power and authority. For he is in every
sense of the term the spiritual and political heir of Mahatma
Gandhi, trained through years of apprenticeship under the
guiding eye of the master, treading his path of truth and
non-violence whatever the cost. The murder of Mahatma
Gandhi by a misguided maniac in the evening of January
30, 1948 made him cry out in agony, ‘The hght has gone out
of our lives and there is darkness everywhere'.^

The Autobiography of Jawaharlal Nehru is as revealing as
Mahatma Gandhi’s The Story of My Experiments With
Truth. Both master and disciple lay bare to us the inmost
‘ Independence and After, p. 17

13

recesses of their hearts, they give us a glimpse of their souls
pgin at the sight of their countrymen smarting under subjec-
tion. They are both of the opinion that the future of human-
ity is dark indeed, unless imperialism and colonialism,
whether in Asia or in Africa, are ended; that the only hope
for world peace is through non-violence; that civilization
can be saved only by the big nations giving up their race for
power.

A passionate worker for world peace, Jawaharlal Nehru
enthusiastically supports the ideals of the United Nations
Organization. Addressing them on November 3, 1948 he
reminded them that means are always as important as ends.
It is important that we should remember, he told the
General Assembly of the UNO at Paris in 1948, ‘that the best
of objectives may not be reached if our eyes are bloodshot
and our minds clouded with passion’.* It is his deep yearning
for peace that has enabled him, as India’s foreign minister,
to keep his country strictly to a middle course without siding
with any power blocs, and also to offer effectually India’s
mediation in Korea and in Indo-China. Coming nearer home,
he has kept the Kashmir controversy and the Goa problem
still to be settled only by peaceful means. India’s neutrality,
he declares, will not continue in the face of any onslaught on
her freedom or on those fundamental human rights of other
nations. ‘We are neither blind to reality nor do we propose
to acquiesce in any challenge to man’s freedom’, he said in
his address to the United States Congi-ess on October 13,
1949, ‘from whatever quarter it may come. Where freedom
is threatened, or where aggression takes place, we cannot be
and shall not be neutral. What we plead for, and endeavour
to practise in our own imperfect way, is an abounding faith
in peace, and an unfailing endeavour of thought and action
to ensure it’.^ By his ardent pursuit of the policy of non-
alignment among the power blocs of the West on the one
hand and his dauntless espousal of the cause of all people
hungering for liberty on the other, he has raised India high
in the comity of nations. Jawaharlal Nehru wound up the
Afro-Asiatic Conference at Bandung in April, 1955 by
asserting that the co-existence of nations, big and small,

' idem, p. 319

’ Speeches (1949-53), p. 125

14

was possible only if they followed the ideals of peace among
men and goodwill among the nations of the world embodied
in Panch Shila.

We see in Jawaharlal Nehru’s thinking a strange combina-
tion of the ideas of the East and of the West. His education
in England during the most impressionable years of his life
has left an indelible mark on Bs personality. He is out of
date with old Indian beliefs and superstitions while he extols
the ideals that made India great in the past and have helped
her to survive the onslaughts of time, keeping her spirit
radiant and serene. ‘Essentially I am interested in this
world’, he says, ‘in this life, not in some other world, or a
future life. Whether there is such a thing as a soul, or whether
there is a survival after death or not, I do not know and,
important as these questions are, they do not trouble me
in the least’. ^ Though a staunch follower of Mahatma
Gandhi, he is not fascinated by the idea of asceticism or
renunciation. ‘I have no liking or attraction for the ascetic
view of life’, he frankly confesses, ‘the negation of life, the
terrified absention from its joys and sensations’.® He prefers
the active virtues, he says, to the passive ones. And what
remarkable activity, mental and physical, marks his life if
we remember that he completed the psalmist’s span of three
score and ten years on November 14, 1959!

Jawaharlal Nehru’s education in England accounts for his
realistic approach to the problems of life and his scientific
attitude of mind. He will fight for his country’s freedom
against the British rulers in India but he cannot forget what
he owes to his English training or ways of thought. ‘Person-
ally I owe too much to England in my mental make-up ever
to feel wholly alien to her, he frankly avows, ‘and do what
I will, I cannot get rid of the habits of mind, and the stan-
dards and the ways of judging other countries as well as life
generally, which I acquired at school and college in
England’.® It is this again that makes him realize how much
English language and literature have meant to India and her
people, though he is a passionate believer in the resurgence
of the Indian languages and in their replacing English in

^ The Discovery of India, pp. 15-16
“ Autobiography, p. 205
* VM, p. 419

15

the near future. Nor does he forget the deep debt of gratitude
that Mahatma Gandhi and Aurobindo Ghose, Rabindranath
Tagore and Radhakrishnan owe to English or that they drew
their inspiration as much, from the teachings of Burke and
Mill, Ruskin and Tolstoy, Lincoln and Thoreau as from the
Vedas and the Upanishads, the Ramayana and the Mahab-
harata, the Bhagavad-gita and the gospel of Buddha. He
always impresses on his coxmtrymen the need for a spirit of
restraint in the solution of problems, both at home and
abroad; his success in this direction has enabled him to see
that India continues to be a member of the Commonwealth.

‘Patriotism is no longer enough; we want something
higher, wider and nobler.’^ A lover of his country, proud of
her past, eagerly looking forward to an equally splendid
future for her, he is no narrow nationalist as most politicians
and patriots tend to become. To him the whole of humanity
is one; the denial of freedom to a people whether in Indo-
nesia or in Israel, makes him take up their cause with the
same fervour with which he fought for India’s freedom.
‘What are we interested in world affairs for ? he asks.
‘We seek no domination over any country. We do not wish
to interfere m the affairs of any country, domestic or other.
Our main stake in world affairs is peace, to see that there is
racial equality and that people who are still subjugated
should be free. For the rest we do not desire to intefere in
world affairs and we do not desire that other people should
interfere in our affairs. If, however, there is interference,
whether military, political, or economic, we shall resist it.’“
His faith in man is equalled by his faith in the ability of every
nation to m^e its own worthy contribution to the progress
of mankind. ‘Faith in progress, in a cause, in ideals, in human
goodness and in human destiny , he asks, ‘are they not nearly
allied to a faith in Providence’?® Intensely proud as he is of
India, Jawaharlal Nehru will, perhaps, feel it a greater hon-
our to be called a Citizen of the World’, for his ideal is One
World, his fight is for human freedom everywhere, his deifi-
cation is of the dignity of mani
It is his identification with the interests and welfare of

^ Autobiography, p. 414

* Independence and After, p. 242

* Autobiography, p. 477

16

mankind in general that makes Jawaharlal Nehru hate the
idea of India becoming insular, now that she is independent.
He wants her to keep her doors open so that the winds of
knowledge and culture may be wafted across the seas to her
shores to enrich her children, even as in past centuries men
from Greece and Rome came to her temples of learning and
took back with them rare treasures of illumination for mind
and soul. ‘In every matter, be it education, science or culture
or anything’, he declares, ‘I dislike nothing so much as the
narrowly nationalistic approach which makes us think that
we have attained the summit of wisdom and that we need
not learn anything ... I am all for opening out our minds
to every kind of knowledge or information that can be
obtained’.^

A man of vision and wisdom, Jawaharlal Nehru can never
subscribe to the doctrine that the end justifies the means. ‘A
worthy end should have worthy means leading up to it. That
seemed not only a good ethical doctrine but sound, prac-
tical politics, for the means that are not good often defeat
the end in view and raise new problems and dfficulties.
And then it seemed so unbecoming, so degrading to the
self-respect of an individual or a nation to submit to such
means, to go through the mire. How can we march ahead
swiftly and with dignity if we stoop or crawl?’* Again and
again he tells his audiences, both in India and abroad, that
this principle of right means leading up to right results
should be adopted in international relations also.

A lover of nature and of the outdoor life, his constant
visits to prison, in the cause of his country’s freedom, makes
him muse on the problems of life and gives him leisure to
write his books. He has an abundant zest for life and enjoys
every moment of his busy and active existence, whether he
is doing the shirasasana in the privacy of his chamber, or
is out riding in the hills and dales of Mussoorie or holiday-
ing amidst the calm majesty of Himalayan peaks, rapt in
wonder at the beauties of nature. But he is not a materialist
nor a follower of the epicurean philosophy of life. To him
life is a glorious adventure of absorbing interest, wherein
every man has an opportunity of growing up morally and

* Speeches (1949-53), p. 70
’ Autobiography, p. 73

B

17

spiritually, of gathering wisdom, and of giving his utmost
to his fellowmen. ‘The real problems for me remain prob-
lems of individual and social life, of harmonious living, of a
proper balancing of an individual’s inner and outer life,
of an adjustment of the relations between individuals and
between groups, of a continuous becoming something
hig her and nobler, of the ceaseless adventure of man.’^ In
his estimation life, in spite of all its evils, is full of beauty
and joy, and nature is an enchanted world by itself.

Nor is he bothered about the existence or non-existence
of God. He is, however, conscious of the mystery of life and
is aware of the awful workings of fate with individuals and
with nations; for, according to him, even the freedom of
India is the result of a tryst made with destiny long years
ago.* ‘What the mysterious is I do not know’, he confesses,
‘I do not call it God because God has come to mean much
that I do not believe in. I find myself incapable of thinking
of a deity or of any unknown or supreme power in anthro-
morphic terms, and the fact that many people think so is
continually a source of surprise to me. Any idea of a per-
sonal God seems very odd to me.’® Hence some have
doubted if he is an atheist but his whole philosophy of life
is coloured by a boundless faith in Providence.

Though bom and bred in liixiuy and wealth, Jawaharlal
Nehra has a genuine love and s)anpathy for the poor. He is
deeply interested in the common people, their way of life,
their problems and pursuits, and has dedicated himself to
the uplift of the underdog. Today when he is travelling
from one part of the country to another, thousands will
walk many miles from their villages to catch a glimpse of
their beloved leader. The writer has been present at some
of the mammoth gatherings addressed by the Indian Prime
Minister in the big cities of India, the audience numbering
half a million or more, and can testify to the fact that it
consisted of every strata of Indian society — ^mill workers
and millionaires, men and women, the young and the old,
all eager to see and hear the words of wisdom from this

^ The Discovery of India, p. 20
* Independence and After, p. 3
’ The Discovery of India, pp. 16-17

18

worthy (lisciple of the great master who brought fhera
freedom.

Jawaharlal Nehru always thinlcs in terms of humanity,
not of his country or of his people alone, and this marks
him out as a world statesman. For his ideal is 'One World’,
wherein the big nations and the small, the East and the
West, shall march hand in hand to build the kingdom of
heaven on earth. His love for humanity is equalled only by
his greaty humility. He considers his visit to the United
States of America in 1949 'a voyage of discovery’. He tells
his audiences in that great democracy of George Washing-
ton and Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson and Franklin
Delano Roosevelt, that he desires to add to his knowledge
and to convey to them the message of peace and love of
Mahatma Gandhi. ‘I have come here to improve my own
education and to learn something about America and about
the world through American eyes.’^

A passionate faith in democracy colom’s his thoughts and
ideas. To him democracy in practice does not mean the
stifling of the voice of the minority by a majority through
its sheer voting strength. ‘Democracy means tolerance,
tolerance not merely of those who agree with us, but of
those who do not agree with 05 .’““ His concept of freedom
is not confined to political rights only but also embraces
everything that contributes towards human welfare and
happiness. ‘True freedom is not merely political but must
also be economic and spiritual. Only then can man grow
and fulfil his destiny.’® With this objective he has dedicated
his fife and labours to the building up of a socialistic pattern
of society in India. But his efforts m this direction have met
with severe criticism from no less a leader than Chakravarti
Rajagopalachari, the doyen among the disciples of Mahatma
Gandhi and India’s last Governor-General. He thinks that
the implementation by Jawaharlal Nehru of his sociahstic
policy through the recent introduction of co-operative farm-
ing will tend to make India a totalitarian State. Rajagopala-
chari apprehends that this and similar programmes will
strike a death-blow to the individuality of man, turning the

^ Speeches (1949-53), p. 117
® Independence and After, p. 13
* Speeches (1949-53), p. 422

19

kard-won freedom of Indians into something msecure and
insubstantial.

Jawaharlal Nehru difiEers strongly from Mahatma Gandhi
in his attitude towards the industrialization of India. While
his master laid emphasis on a simple life according to
nature, his disciple is all for raising the standard of living
of the people and providing them with the amenities of
modem civilization. TPresent-day civilization is full of evils
but it is also full of good; and it has the capacity in it to
rid itself of those evils. To destroy it root and branch is to
remove that capacity from it and to revert to a dull, sunless
and miserable existence. We cannot stop the river of change
or cut ourselves adrift from it, and psychologically we who
have eaten of the apple of Eden cannot forget the taste and
go back to primitiveness.’' Hence it is that he has an
abounding faith in industrialization being the surest means
for the rapid progress and prosperity of India. But he will
not let machinery displace human labour to its detriment
and risk the increase of unemployment. ‘Our economic pro-
gramme must be based on a human outlook’, he declared
in his Presidential Address at the Lahore session of the
Indian National Congress in 1929, ‘and must not sacrifice,
men to money. If an industry cannot be run without starv-
ing its workers, the mdustry must close down’.® To imple-
ment these ideas he has embarked, as Chairman of the
Planning Commission, on the complete industrialization of
India in the course of time. There have been doubts ex-
pressed about the success of the Five Year Plans so far, but
the schemes envisaged in these bear testimony to his desire
to harness the latest scientific and technical knowledge to
build a Welfare State in India.

‘There are few persons in India, I suppose’, he asserts
with legitimate pride, ‘whether they are Indians or English-
men, who have for years past so consistently raised their
voices against Fascism and Nazism as I have done. My
whole nature rebelled against them’.’ Though he may be an
admirer of some of the achievements of the Russian people
in recent times, he has never loved the Communist way of

* Autobiography, p. 511

=■ India and The World, p. 30

* The Unity of India, p. 397

20

life and thought. He condemns the Indian Communists for
drawing their inspiration from beyond the borders of India.
The violence that is inherent in the ideals of communism is
abhorent to him, as a lover of freedom and a champion of
democracy. T believed more and more in Socialism. More
and more even in some parts of communism, not the action
part but the theory part of it. ... I always conditioned
it that the methods should be peaceful, broadly speaking
peaceful, and not wrong. . . . But I am deeply convinced
that the methods employed in certain communist societies,
that is too much coercion and suffering, are not the right
methods.'^

It has been remarked by responsible persons in India —
and such criticism is just — ^that Jawaharlal Nehru has not
trained a second line of leadership, so that one among them
may take his place when the time comes. Among such critics
is Jaya Prakash Narayan, whose services and sacrifices in
the cause of the freedom of India are equalled only by that
of Jawaharlal Nehru. In a recent interview published in The
Times, London, Jaya Prakash Narayan is reported to have
said ‘He (Nehru) is like a large tree. The shadow is very
comforting but nothing grows under it.’* It must also be
remembered that the difficulty of finding an answer to the
question ‘After Nehru, who’? is coupled with that to the
query, ‘After Nehru, what’? The problems of the great sub-
continent, just learning its first lessons in parhamentary
democracy, are too many and too varied to be solved by a
person of average integrity or ordinary calibre. Jawaharlal
Nehru cannot afiEord to leave India’s future to be decided
by mere force of circumstances; he has to train a worthy
successor who will take the torch of leadership from his
hands at the opportune time.

Though Jawaharlal Nehru has been Prime Minister of
India continuously for nearly fifteen years, he has often
been criticized for failure to follow a strong and firm policy
either in India or in international affairs. While some of his
political opponents point their fingers at him as a Hamlet,
there are others who attribute to him the desire to be a
Hitler. An aristocrat by birth and a democrat by training,

‘ Conversations with Mr. Nehru, pp. 31-32
* The Hindu, Madras December 8, 1959

21

he has always followed the middle path; the result has been
that at times he has not succeeded in satisfying either his
admirers or his adversaries in the context of the complica-
tions of Indian politics since independence or his country’s
relations with other nations. His policy, however, has
steadily raised his stature as a statesman and given India
a dominating position among world nations.

A love for the ideals of socialism and a longing to build
the India of his dreams on a socialistic basis runs like a
thread throughout his life and thought. Socialism appeals
to him ‘as a philosophy of life’^ and is, in his estimation,
‘the only key to the solution of the world’s problems and of
India’s problems’.^ He states that he was drawn towards
socialism from his younger days. ‘I have been and am a
convinced socialist and believer in democracy’, he declares,
‘and have at the same time accepted whole-heartedly the
peaceful technique of non-violent action which Gandhiji
has practised so successfully during the past twenty years’.®
A classless society, according to him, should be our ulti-
mate aim wherein aU shall have equahty of opportunity and
economic justice, ‘a society organized on a planned basis
for the raising of mankind to higher material and cultural
levels, to a cultivation of spiritual values, of co-operation,
unselfishness, the spirit of service, the desire to do right,
goodwill and love — ^ultimately a world order. Everything
that comes in the way will have to be removed, gently if
possible, forcibly if necessary’.®

No estimate of Jawaharlal Nehru will be complete with-
out an assessment of him as an author and writer. Many
Indians have won unstinted praise at the hands of Western
litterateurs for their conspicuous ability to speak and write
the Queen’s English. Jawaharlal is one more of that select
band who mastered a foreign language and made their in-
most thoughts known to the world in a manner worthy of
the great ones of English literature. His Letters From A
Father To His Daughter, which were originally addressed
by him from prison to his daughter Indira and enlarged

‘ India and The World, p, 82

* Ibid, p. 82

* The Unity of India, p, 134

* Autobiography, pp. 551-52

22

later into his Glimpses of World History meant for all child-
ren, appeals also to adults in equal degree, ‘A very magnifi-
cent affair from the point of view of book production , says
Roger Baldwin in a letter to the author on the publication
of its first edition in England, ‘and an equally magnificent
affair from the point of view of scholarly research and arrest-
ing presentation’.^ His comments on life and events as he
paints the pageant of man’s story across the ages are as
interesting as they are illuminating; and even here he gives
us some personal glimpses of himself and his reaction to the
forces that went to the making of the history of nations. ‘I
believe’, says Mulk Raj Anand, ‘that the prisoner in the
little jail in Uttar Pradesh was also seeking, through the
writing of history, to integrate his own personality witli the
events of the past of India as well as into the events which
were shaping her present and her future’.®

Of his Autobiography Aldous Huxley said: ‘For those
who would understand contemporary India it is an indis-
pensable book.’ It is not only an account, intimate and
graphic, of India’s struggle for freedom but sJso a revelation
of Jawaharlal Nehru, the man, who loves India and her
ancient ideals while condemning her old traditions and
beliefs, whose sympathy is all for his countrymen sunk in
ignorance and poverty because of their subjection, whose
ambition is to build a new India on modem foundations
without giving up what is precious and permanent in her
past heritage and keeping the soul of India youthful and
radiant, ever intent on the eternal things of the spirit. The
Unity of India, which contains his writings and speeches
during the Second World War, gives us his reactions to
contemporary trends of thought and action in India and
abroad. Here we see the author again and again presenting
India’s case for freedom and condemning both Fascism and
Nazism which devastated the world during their brief but
inglorious regime and proved once again the trath of Jesus
Christ’s immortal words: ‘Those who take to the sword shall
perish by the sword.’

Jawaharlal Nehm’s last great book. The Discovery . of
India, is in some ways more remarkable as a revelation of

* A Bunch of Old Letters, p. 387
’ A Study of Nehru, p. 851

23

his personality than even his Autobiography. Here we see
a mind more mature, a man who has experienced life more
intensely, an individual who has seen the infinite variety of
the world and its ways, a critic of man’s achievements
through the ages and of his triumphs and his tears. In this
book he seeks to ‘discover’ the soul of India, as he says,
analyses the spiritual basis of her culture and civilization
and asserts that she has been untouched by the tornado of
time that tears up men and nations ruthlessly unless they
live according to the immutable laws ordained by God. And
in the process he discovers himself to us often, condemning
old superstitions and outworn creeds that still hold millions
of his countrymen in their grip, while he reveals an intense
desire to reconcile ancient Indian ideals with modem
thought.

Perhaps the best summing up of Jawaharlal Nehm’s place
in the world today and the noblest tribute yet paid to him
was contained in the citation on the occasion of the confer-
ment of the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws on h im at
Columbia University by its then President, General Dwight
D. Eisenhower :

‘Pandit Jawaharlal Nehra, foremost disciple of the great
apostle of Indian freedom, indomitable leader of his people
along the thorny path of liberation, wise counsellor and
moulder of policies of a reborn nation, renowned interpreter
of the aspirations of a great race, his intellectual leadership
has combined the profoimd knowledge of the West with the
great heritage and enduring traditions of the East; a cham-
pion of under-privileged people, his devotion to the noble
ideals of universal peace and tmderstanding have won for
him the respect and acclaim of all mankind.’

24

Myself

I WAS AN ONLY SON

An only son of prosperous parents is apt to be spoilt, especi-
ally so in India. And when that son happens to have been
an only child for the first eleven years of his existence there
is little hope for him to escape this spoiling. My two sisters
are very much younger than I am, and between each two
of us, there is a long stretch of years. And so I grew up and
spent my early years as a somewhat lonely child with no
companions of my age. I did not even have the companion-
ship of children at school for I was not sent to any kinder-
garten or primary school. Governesses or private tutors were
supposed to be in charge of my education.

Autobiography, p. 1.

ATTITUDE TO LIFE IN MY YOUTH

My general attitude to life at the time was a vague kind of
cyrenaicism, partly natural to youth, partly the influence of
Oscar Wilde and Walter Pater. It is easy and gratifying to
give a long Greek name to the desire for a soft life and
pleasant experiences. But there was something more in it
than that for I was not particularly attracted to a soft life.
Not having the religious temper and disliking the repres-
sions of religion, it was natural for me to seek some other
standard. I was superficial and did not go deep down into
anything. And so Ae aesthetic side of Me appealed to me,
and the idea of going through Me worthily, not indulging
it in the vulgar way, but s^ making the most of it and
living a full and many-sided Me attracted me. I enjoyed
Me and I refused to see why I should consider it a thing of
sin. At the same time risk and adventure fascinated me; I
was always, like my father, a bit of a gambler, at first with
money and then for higher stakes, with the bigger issues of
Me.

25

Autobiography, p. 20.

EARLY INFLUENCE OF GANDHIJI

The effect of Gandhiji on me in the early days was to sim-
plify my life very much. I gave up smoking, for instance. I
did not smoke for five or six years. I think that this was not
just to make myself better, but for three reasons. One was
that I thought I was wasting money. India is a poor country.
This little money that I spend can be better utilized. Sec-
ondly, a sense of discipline: why am I a slave to habit?
Thirdly, if I dislike smoking in public, why should I do it
in private? That is, I did not want to smoke in public, in a
crowd, so it was not truthful to do something in secret that
I did not want to do in public.

Conversations With Mr. Nehru, p. 30.

I AM A CHILD OF PHESENT-DAY CIVILIZATION

We are all products of this age with the characteristics of
our generation, equally entitled to credit or blame. Certainly
I am as much a part of this civilization, that I both appreci-
ate and criticize, as any one else, and my habits and ways
of thought are conditioned by it.

The Discovery of India, p. 676.

MY PROBLEMS

The real problems for me remain problems of individual
and social hfe, of harmonious living, of a proper balancing
of an individual’s inner and outer life, of an adjustment of the
relations between individuals and between groups, of a con-
tinuous becoming something better and higher, of social
development, of the ceaseless adventure of man. In the
solution of these problems the way of observation and pre-
cise knowledge and deliberate reasoning, according to the
method of science, must be followed.'*This method may not
always be applicable in our quest of truth, for art and
poetry and certain psychic experiences seem to belong to
a different order of things and to elude the objective
methods of science. Let us therefore not rule out intuition
and other methods of sensing truth and reality. They are
necessary even for the purposes of science. But always we
must hold to our anchor of precise objective knowledge

26

tested by reason and even more so by experiment and prac-
tice, and always we must beware of losing ourselves in a sea
of speculation unconnected with the day-to-day problems
of Me and the needs of men and women. A living philo-
sophy must answer the problems of today.

The Discovery of India, p. 20.

I AM NO PHILOSOPHER

I do not claim to be a philosopher or an expert in any of the
subjects you have mentioned. Some of the subjects are per-
haps rather beyond me. Others, I would only deal with in
a somewhat superficial way, that is, in so far as they affect
my immediate problems in India. I have no general remedy
for the world’s ills, nor do I feel myself competent to deal
with them.

Conversations With Mr. Nehru, p. 5.

INDIA IS PART OF MY BEING

India was in my blood and there was much in her that in-
stinctively thrilled me. And yet I approached her almost as
an alien critic, fuU of dislike for the present as well as for
many of the relics of the past that I saw. To some extent I
came to her via the West and looked at her as a friendly
Westerner might have done. I was eager and anxious to
change her outlook and appearance and give her the garb
of modernity. And yet doubts rose within me. Did I Imow
India, I who presumed to scrap much of her past heritage?
There was a great deal that had to be scrapped, that must
be scrapped but surely India could not have been what she
undoubtedly was, and could not have continued a cultured
existence for thousands of years, if she had not possessed
something very vital and enduring, something that was
worthwhile. What was this something?

The Discovery of India, p, 42.

I HATE SLUMS

I have a horror of slums. I don’t mind a person living in
the open like a vagabond or a gipsy. I am a bit of a vaga-

27

bond myself, and I like vagabonds and gipsies. I don’t mind
a person living in a mud hut. But I do mind slums in cities;
and I have often said if you caimot provide buildings for
those dwelling in slums, give them an open space to live
in, and give them at least some social services, like good
sanitation and water supply. The rest will follow.

Speeches (1953-57) p. 466: from speech on the
occasion of laying the foundation-stone of the
new Corporation Building at Bangalore, Oct-
ober 6, 1955.

I don’t want to be considered only as

A PRIME MINISTER

I am something other than a Prime Minister, too. I am also
a human being. Often I find myself struggling for some
light, for a vision of what one should do, for a glimpse of
the truth and of the pathway to the truth.

Speeches (1949-53), pp. 370-1: from address at
the UNESCO Indian National Commission,
New Delhi, March 24, 1951.

I have come to you not so much in my capacity as a Prime
Minister of a great country or a politician, but rather as a
humble seeker after truth and as one who has continuously
struggled to find the way, not always with success, to fit
action to the objectives and ideals that I have held.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 395: from address on
the occasion of the conferment on him of the
Degree of Doctor of Laws at Columbia Uni-
versity, New York, October 17, 1949.

AM I A SOCIALIST OR AN INDIVIDUALIST?

Am I a socialist or an individualist? Is there a necessary con-
tradiction in the terms? Are we all such integrated human
beings that we can define ourselves precisely, in a word or a
phrase? I suppose I am temperamentally and by training an
individualist, and intellectually a socialist, whatever all this
might mean. I hope that socialism does not kill or suppress
individuality; indeed I am attracted to it because it will
release innumerable individuals from economic and cultural

28

bondage. But 1 am a dull subject to discuss, especially at the
tail end of an inordinately long letter. Let us leave it at this,
that I am an imsatisfactory human being who is dissatisfied
with himself and the world, and whom the petty world he
lives in does not particularly like.

A Bunch of Old Letters, p. 353: from letter to
Subhas Chandra Bose, dated April 3, 1939.

I AM A SYMBOL OF INDIAN NATIONALISM

I stand before you as an individual being tried for certain
offences against the State. You are a symbol of that State.
But I am something more than an individual also; I, too, am
a symbol, at the present moment, a symbol of Indian nation-
ahsm, resolved to break away from the British Empire and
achieve the independence of India. It is not me that you are
seeking to judge and condemn, but rather the hundreds of
milUons of the people of India, and that is a large task even
for a proud empire. Perhaps it may be that, though I am
standing before you on my trial, it is the British Empire
itself that is on its trial before the bar of the world. There
are more powerful forces at work in the world today than
courts of law; there are elemental urges for freedom and
food and security which are moving vast masses of people,
and history is being moulded by them. The future recorder
of this history might well say that in the hour of supreme
trial the government of Britain failed because they could
not adapt themselves to a changing world. He may muse
over the fate of empires which have always fallen because
of this weakness and call it destiny. Certain causes inevit-
ably produce certain results. We know the causes; the
results are inexorably in their train.

It is a small matter to me what happens to me in this
trial or subsequently. Individuals count for little; they come
and go, as I shall go when my time is up. Seven times have
I been tried and convicted by British authority in India,
and many years of my life lie buried within prison walls.
An eighth time or a ninth, and a few years more, make little
diSerence.

The Unity of India, pp. 399-400; from state-
ment at his trial at Gorakhpur, on November
3, 1940.

29

MY DffBT TO ENGLAND

Personally, I owe too much to England in my mental make-
up ever to feel wholly alien to her. And, do what I will, I
cannot get rid of the habits of mind, and the standards and
ways of judging other countries as well as life generally,
which I acquired at school and college in England. All my
predilections (apart from the political plane) are in favour
of England and the English people, and if I have become
what is called an uncompromising opponent of British rule
in India, it is almost in spite of myself.

Autobiography, p. 419.

I AM AN INEFFECTIVE POLITICIAN

I fear I am an ineffective politician at any time, and I have
no taste whatever for the variety of politics that has lately
developed. That is my weakness. When I cannot act effec-
tively, I try at any rate to preserve a certain integrity of
mind, and I wait for the time when I can act more effec-
tively. It is a cheerless task.

The Unity of India, p. 169.

I AM PEOUD OF MY COUNTKY

I am proud of my country, proud of my national inheritance,
proud of many things, but I speak to you not in pride but
with all humility. For events have humbled me and often
shamed me and the dream of India that I have had has
sometimes grown dim. I have loved India and sought to
serve her not because of her geographical magnitude, not
even because she was great in the past, but because of my
faith in her today and my belief that she will stand for truth
and freedom and the higher things of life.

Independence and After, p. 36; from broad-
cast from New Delhi on Mahatma Gandhi’s
Birthday Anniversary, October 2, 1948.

MY INHEKITANCE

What is my inheritance? To what am I an heir? To all that
humanity has achieved during tens of thousands of years, to

30

all that it has thought and felt, and suffered and taken
pleasure in, to its cries of triumph and its bitter agony of
defeat, to the astonishing adventure of man which began so
long ago and yet continues and beckons to us. To all this
and more, in common with all men. But there is a special
heritage for those of us of India, not an exclusive one, for
none are exclusive and all are common to the race of man,
but more especially applicable to us, something that is in
our flesh and blood and bones, that has gone to make us
what we are and what we are likely to be.

The Discovery of India, pp. 26-7.

NATIONAL HEBITAGE

Nothing is more advantageous and more creditable than a
rich heritage; but nothing is more dangerous for a nation
tlian to sit back and live on that heritage. A nation cannot
progress if it merely imitates its ancestors; what builds a
nation is creative, inventive and vital activity.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 433: from address at
the University of Saugor, October 30, 1952.

THE CALL OF ACTION

The call of action has long been with me; not action
divorced from thought, but rather flowing from it in one
continuous sequence. And when, rarely, there has been full
harmony between the two, thought leading to action and
finding its fulfilment in it, action leading back to thought
and a fuller understanding — ^then I have sensed a certain
fulness of life and a vivid intensity in that moment of exist-
ence. But such moments are rare, very rare, and usually one
outstrips the other, and there is a lack of harmony, and vain
efforts to bring the two in line. . . . And yet, even now, the
call of action stirs strange depths within me and, after a
brief tussle with thought, I want to experience again that
lovely impulse of delight which turns to risk and danger
and faces and mocks at death. I am not enamoured of
death, though I do not think it frightens me.

The Discovery of India, p. 9.

31

I AM NOT A PACIFIST

I am not a pacifist. ... I do recognize that under certain
circumstances one has to fight. It depends less on theory
than on the backgroimd of the people; on what they can do.
Even Mr. Gandhi, who was a great pacifist, always said
that it is better to fight than to be afraid. It is better to
indulge in violence than to run away. He meant that you
must not surrender to evil, to basic evil, and that you must
preferably fight in a peaceful way. If you cannot do that,
well, then fight in the military way. But don’t surrender to
evil.

Conversations With Mr. Nehru, p. 79-80.

MY GENERATION

My generation has been a troubled one in India and the
world. We may carry on for a little while longer, but our
day will be over and we shall give place to others, and they
will live their lives and carry their burdens to the next stage
of the journey. How have we played our part in this brief
interlude that draws to a close? I do not know. Others of a
later stage will judge. By what standards do we measure
success or failmre? That too I do not know. We can make
no complaint that life has treated us harshly for ours has
been a willing choice, and perhaps life has not been so bad
to us after all. For only those can sense life who stand often
on the verge of it, only those whose lives are not governed
by the fear of death. In spite of all the mistakes that we
might have made, we have saved ourselves from triviality
and an inner shame and cowardice. That, for our individual
selves, has been some achievement. ‘Man’s dearest posses-
sion is Ufe, and since it is given to him to live but once, he
must so live as not to be seared with the shame of a cow-
ardly and trivial past, so live as not to be tortured for years
without purpose, so live that dying he can say: “All my life
and my strength were given to the first cause in the world —
the liberation of mankind”.’

The Discovery of India, p. 691.

32

A man’s development

A person grows by his thoughts, by his actions, by his objec-
tives. We are, as the Buddhist Dharmapada says, just a col-
lection, a layer of our thoughts. So, if we think in a big way
and act in a big way, we tend to become big ourselves, as
individuals and as a nation.

Speeches (1953-57), p. 7; from speech at in-
augural meeting of Co-ordination Board of
Ministers for River Valley Projects, New
Delhi, October 13, 1954.

I ONCE OPPOSED THE DEATH PENALTY

At one time I was strongly opposed to the death penalty, and,
in theory, my opposition still continues. But I have come to
realize that there are many things far worse than death, and
if the choice had to be made, and I was given it, I would
probably accept a death sentence rather than one of im-
prisonment for life. But I would not like to be hung; I
would prefer being shot or guillotined or even electrocuted;
most of all other methods I would like to be given, as
Socrates was of old, the cup of poison from which there was
no awakening. This last method seems to me to be far the
most civilized and humane.

India and the World, p. 139.

I HAVE DABBLED IN MANY THINGS

I am not a man of letters, and I am not prepared to say that
the many years I have spent in gaol have been the sweetest
in my life, but I must say that reading and writing have
helped me wonderfully to get through them. I am not a
literary man, and I am not a historian; what, indeed, am I?
I find it difficult to answer that question. I have been a
dabbler in many things; I began with science at college,
and then took to the law, and after developing various
other interests in life, finally adopted the popular and
widely practised profession of gaol-going in India.

Glimpses of World History, Vol. 11, pp. 1498-9.

c

33

CRITICISM

Never be afraid of criticism. I welcome criticism.

Independence and After, p. 181; from speech
at the Annual Meeting of the Federation of
Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry,
New Delhi, March 4, 1949.

A MIGHTY PURPOSE BRINGS ITS OWN JOY

In the pursuit itself of a mighty purpose there is joy and
happiness and a measure of achievement.

India and the World, p. 63.

THE PAST

The past remains. But I cannot write academically of past
events in the manner of a historian or scholar. I have not
that knowledge or equipment or training; nor do I possess
the mood for that kind of work. The past oppresses me or
fills me sometimes with its warmth when it touches on the
present, and becomes, as it were, an aspect of that living
present. If it does not do so, then it is cold, barren, lifeless,
uninteresting. I can only write about it, as I have previously
done, by bringing it in some relation to my present-day
thoughts and activities, and then this writing of history, as
Goethe once said, brings some relief from the weight and
burden of the past. It is, I suppose, a process similar to that
of psycho-analysis, but applied to a race or to humanity
itself instead of to an individual.

The Discovery of India, p. 26.

OUR TOMORROWS

Shall we not also think of our tomorrows sometimes? Or
must we invariably lose ourselves in our todays? I cannot
ignore today, obviously. But so far as I am concerned, I
must confess to you that the morrow is shghtly more impor-
tant to me than today. If we are thinking in terms of pro-
gress, we have to build for a tomorrow that vwU make
progress possible; and we have to build on a firm founda-

34

tion, even though the laying of that may create some diffi-
culties today.

Speeches (1949-53), pp. 559-60: from speech
in Parliament, New Delhi, March 14, 1951.

WE CANNOT AFFORD TO LOSE FAITH IN MAN

No, one may not lose faith in Man. God we may deny, but
what hope is there for us if we deny Man and thus reduce
everything to futility. Yet it was difficult to have faith in
anything or to believe that the triumph of righteousness is
inevitable.

The Discovery of India, p. 568.

RENUNCIATION HAS NO APPEAL FOR ME

I prefer the active virtues to the passive ones, and renun-
ciation and sacrifice for their own sakes have httle appeal
for me. I do value them from another point of view — ^that of
mental and spiritual training — ^just as a simple and regular
life is necessary for the athlete to keep in good physical
condition. And the capacity for endurance and persever-
ance in spite of hard knocks is essential for those who wish
to dabble in great undertakings. But I have no liking or
attraction for the ascetic view of life, the negation of life,
the terrified abstention from its joys and sensations. I have
not consciously renoimced anything that I really valued;
but then values change.

Autobiography, p. 205-6.

I AM NOT INTERESTED IN A FUTURE LIFE

Essentially I am interested in this world, in this life, not in
some other world or a future life. Whether there is such a
thing as a soul, or whether there is a survival after death
or not, I do not know, and, important as these questions are,
they do not trouble me in the least. The environment in
which I have grown up takes the soul (or rather the atma)
and a futmre hfe, the Karma theory of cause and effect, and
re-incamation for granted. I have been affected by this and
so, in a sense, I am favourably disposed towards these

35

assumptions. There might be a soul which survives the
physical death of the body, and a theory of cause and efFect
governing life’s actions seems reasonable though it leads to
obvious difficulties when one thinks of the ultimate cause.
Presuming a soul, there appears to be some logic also in the
theory of reincarnation.

But I do not believe in any of these or other theories and
assumptions as a matter of religious faith. They are just
intellectual speculations in an unknown region about which
we know next to nothing. They do not affect my hfe, and
whether they were proved right or wrong subsequently,
they would make little difference to me.

The Discovery of India, pp. 15-16.

THREE MEN WHO HAVE INFLUENCED ME

MOST

I might tell you that so far as I am personally concerned
the three men who have influenced me most in my Me have
been my father, Gandhiji and Rabindranath Tagore. The
first two more than the last one, because I came in contact
with Tagore rather late when I had been conditioned, more
or less, by my father and Gandhiji. Nevertheless, Rabind-
ranath had a very considerable influence on me. It is inter-
esting to remember that my father and Rabindranath
Tagore were bom on the same day, month and year. Nat-
ional urges were a common factor to all these three. But I
doubt if you could find three persons who were so entirely
different from one another as Gandhiji, my father and
Rabindranath, and yet there were these enormous bonds
and links in their thought and action, and, to some extent,
in culture too, although, again, there are so many facets of
culture that it takes different shapes in different individuab.
I have so many memories of my father, vivid memories. But
I think I remember most the last time I saw him when he
visited me in Naini Prison, just a few days before his death.
He was terribly ill and his face showed it. But throughout
that brief interview his strong and dominant will not to give
in to illness or death was apparent. He refused to recognize
it and almost conveyed to me the impression that he would
refuse to die, whatever happened. He was a great fighter

36

and specially a fighter when there were odds against him.

Speeches (1953-57), pp. 482-83: from Inter-
view by K. G. Saiyidain on All India Radio,
May 6, 1956.

A CONFESSION OF FAITH

I am not wedded to any dogma or religion but I do believe
— ^whether one calls it rehgion or not — ^in the innate spirit-
uality o£ human beings. I do believe in the innate dignity
of the individual. I do believe that every individual should
be given equal opportunity. I believe as an ideal — ^it may
be diflBcult to reach it — in an egalitarian society with no
great differences. I dislike the vulgarity of the rich as much
as the poverty of the poor.

The Hindu, March 28, 1960: from address to
the annual session of the Federation of Indian
Chambers of Commerce and Industry, New
Delhi.

37

My Country

INDIA

Our own country is a little world in itself with an infinite
variety and places for us to discover. I have travelled a great
deal in this country and I have grown in years. And yet I
have not seen many parts of the country we love so much
and seek to serve. I wish I had more time, so that I could
visit the odd nooks and comers of India. I would like to go
there in the company of bright young children whose minds
are opening out with wonder and curiosity as they make
new discoveries. I should like to go with them, not so much
to the great cities of India as to the mountains and the
forests and the great rivers and the old monuments, all of
which tell us something of India’s history. I would like
them to discover for themselves that they can play about
in the snow in some parts of India and also see other places
where tropical forests flourish. Such a trip with children
would be a voyage of discovery of the beautiful trees and
forests and hillsides and the flowers that grace the changing
seasons and bring hfe and colour to us. We would watch
the birds and try to recognize them and make friends with
them. But the most exciting adventure would be to go to
the forests and see the wild animals, both the htde ones and
the big. Foolish people go with a gun and kill them and thus
put an end to something that was beautiful. It is far more
interesting and amusing to wander about without a gun
or any other weapon and to find that wild animals are not
afraid and can be approached. Animals have keener
instincts than m^. If a man goes to them with murder in
his heart, they are afraid of him and run away. But if he
has any love for animals, they realize that he is a friend and
do not mind him. If you are full of fear yourself, then the
animal is afraid, too, and might attack you in self-defence.

38

The fearless person is seldom, if ever, attacked.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 443: from Children’s
Number of Shankers Weekly, December 26,
1950.

THE SOUL OF INDIA

And yet India with aU her poverty and degradation had
enough of nobility and greatness about her, and though she
was overburdened with ancient tradition and present
misery, and her eyelids were a httle weary, she had ‘a beaut)*^
wrought out from within upon the flesh, the deposit little
cell by cell, of strange thoughts and fantastic reveries and
exquisite passions’. Behind and within her battered body
one could stiU glimpse a majesty of soul. Through long ages
she had travelled and gathered much wisdom on the way,
and trafficked with strangers and added them to her own
big family, and witnessed days of glory and of decay, and
suffered humiliation and terrible sorrow, and seen many a
strange sight; but throughout her long journey she had
clung to her immemorial culture, drawn strength and vital-
ity from it, and shared it with other lands. Like a pendulum
she had swung up and down; she had ventured with the
daring of her thought to reach up to the heavens and un-
ravel their mystery, and she had also had bitter experience
of the pit of hell. Despite the woeful accumulations of super-
stition and degrading custom that had clung to her and
borne her down, she had never wholly forgotten the inspira-
tion that some of the wisest of her children, at the dawn
of history, had given her in the Upanishads. Their keen
minds, ever restless and ever strivmg and exploring, had not
sought refuge in blind dogma or grown complacent in the
routine observance of dead forms or ritual and creed. They
had demanded not a personal reUef from suffering in the
present or a place in a paradise to come, but light and under-
standing :‘Lead me from the umeal to the real, lead me from
darkness to light, lead me from death to immortahty’. In the
most famous of the prayers recited daily even today by
millions, the gayatri mantra, the call is for knowledge, for
enlightenment.

Autobiography, pp. 429-80,

39

THE DISCOVERY OF INDIA

The discovery of India — ^what have I discovered? It was
presumption of me to imagine that I could unveil her and
find out what she is today and what she was in the long
past. Today she is four hundred million separate individual
men and women, each differing from the other, each living
in a private universe of thought and feeling. If this is so in
the present, how much more difficult is it to grasp that mul-
titudinous past of innumerable successions of human
beings. Yet something has bound them together and binds
them still. India is a geographical and economic entity, a
cultural unity amidst diversity, a bundle of contradictions
held together by strong but invisible threads. Overwhelmed
again and again, her spirit was never conquered, and today
when she appears to be the plaything of a proud conqueror,
she remains unsubdued and unconquered. About her there
is the elusive quality of a legend of long ago; some enchant-
ment seems to have held her mind. She is a myth and an
idea, a dream and a vision, and yet very real and present
and pervasive. There are terrifying glimpses of dark corri-
dors which seem to lead back to primeval night, but also
there is the fulness and warmth of the day about her.
Shameful and repellant she is occasionally, perverse and
obstinate, sometimes even a little hysteric, this lady with
a past. But she is very lovable and none of her children can
forget her wherever they go or whatever strange fate befalls
them. For she is part of them in her greatness as well as her
failings, and they are mirrored in those deep eyes of hers
that have seen so much of life’s passion and joy and folly
and looked down into wisdom’s well. Each one of them is
drawn to her, though perhaps each has a different reason
for that attraction or can point to no reason at all, and
each sees some different aspect of her many-sided person-
ality. From age to age she has produced great men and
women, carrying on the old tradition and yet ever adapting
it to changing times. Rabindranath Tagore, in line with that
great succession, was full of the temper and urges of the
modem age and yet was rooted in India’s past, and in his
own self built up a synthesis of the old and the new. T love
India’, he said, ‘not because I cultivate the idolatry of geog-

40

raphy, not because I have had the chance to be bom in her
soil, but because she has saved through tumultuous ages
the living words that have issued from the illuminated con-
sciousness of her great ones’. So many will say, and yet
others wiU explain their love for her in some difFerent way.

The Discovery of India, p. 687.

INDIA IS YOUNG IN SPIRIT

India is an old nation and yet today she has within her
something of the spirit and d 3 Tiamic quality of youth. Some
of the vital impulses which gave strength to India in past
ages inspire us still and, at the same time, we have learned
much from the West in social and political values, in science
and technology. We have still much to leam and much to
do, especially in the application of science to problems of
social well-being. We have gained political freedom and the
urgent task before us today is to improve rapidly the econ-
omic conditions of our people and to fight relentlessly
against poverty and social ills. We are determined to apply
ourselves to these problems and to achieve success. We have
the will and the natural resources and the human material
to do so and our immediate task is to harness them for
human betterment. For this purpose, it is essential for us
to have a period of peaceful development and co-operation
with other nations.

Speeches (1949-53), pp. 128-9: From speech
made in the Canadian Parhament, Ottawa,
October 24, 1949.

A NEW VITALITY IS COMING OVER INDIA

A new vitality is coming into our people. Of course, I would
say that the process started with our political revolution; by
Mr Gandhi’s movement. It shook up these people. It gave
them the urge to advance and also it gave them some idea
of how they could do it by working together, by co-operat-
ing and so forth. Now, how far can we take advantage of
that and encourage it by further co-operative methods to
improve their lot? How far can we create the conviction
that it is not the Government that is doing it for them — ^the

41

Government does it, of course — ^but that the people them-
selves join in and realize that they are partners in a big
enterprise which will raise their level? ... I think you can
produce that.

On the other hand, it may be that the shock of a big revo-
lutionary change has the advantage of a clean slate to write
upon — ^in a sense — ^but that revolution also brings about a
great deal of destruction, a great deal of inner conflict.

Conversations with Mr Nehru, p. 53.

INDIA AKIN TO OLD GREECE

India is far nearer in spirit and outlook to the old Greece
than the nations of Europe are today, although they call
themselves children of the Hellenic spirit. We are apt to
forget this because we have inherited fixed concepts which
prevent reasoned thought. India, it is said, is religious, philo-
sophical, speculative, metaphysical, tmconcemed with the
world, and lost in dreams of the beyond and the hereafter.
So we are told, and perhaps those who tells us so would like
India to remain plunged in thought and entangled in specu-
lation, so that they might possess this world and the fulness
thereof, unhindered by these thinkers, and take their joy of
it. Yes, India has been all this but also much more than
this. She has known the innocence and the insouciance of
childhood, the passion and abandon of youth, and the ripe
wisdom of maturity that comes from long experience of pain
and pleasure; and over and over again she has renewed her
childhood and youth and age. The tremendous inertia of
age and size have weighed her down, degrading custom and
evil practice have eaten into her, many a parasite has clung
to her and sucked her blood, but behmd all this he the
strength of ages and the subconscious wisdom of an ancient
race. For we are very old, and trackless centuries whisper
in our ears; yet we have known how to regain our youth
again and again, though the memory and dreams of those
past ages endure with us.

The Discovery of India, pp. 166-7.

India’s voice is that of truth

Our voice may be feeble today but the message it conveys

42

is no feeble message. It has the strength of truth in it and
it will prevail.

Independence And After, p. 40: from a talk
broadcast from New Delhi on the first anni-
versary of Mahatma Gandhi’s death, January
30, 1949.

DEMOCRACY IN ANCIENT INDIA

The democratic way was not only well known but was a
common method of functioning in social life, in local gov-
ernment, trade-guilds, religious assemblies, etc. Caste, with
all its evils, kept up the democratic habit in each group.
There used to be elaborate rules of procedure, election and
debate. The Marquis of Zetland has referred to some of
these in writing about the early Buddhist assemblies: ‘And
it may come as a surprise to many to leam that in the assem-
blies of the Buddhists in India two thousand or more years
ago are to be found the rudiments of our own parliamentary
practice of the present day. The dignity of the Assembly
was preserved by the appointment of a special officer— -the
embryo of “Mr Speaker” in the House of Commons. A
second officer was appointed whose duty it was to see that
when necessary a quorum was secured — ^the prototype of
the Parliamentary Chief Whip in our own system. A mem-
ber initiating business did so in the form of a motion which
was then open to discussion. In some cases this was done
once only, in others three times, thus anticipating the prac-
tice of Parliament in requiring that A Bill be read a third
time before it becomes law. If discussion disclosed a differ-
ence of opinion the matter was decided by the vote of the
majority, the voting being by ballot.’

The Discovery of India, pp. 297-8.

INDIA IN ANCIENT TIMES

The picture of India, as we see it, in the first millenium
after Christ and indeed even before that, is very different
from its later appearance. We see in those early days an
exuberant, vital people, full of the zest of life and adventure,
cai'rying their message to far countries. In the reahn of

43

thought, they dared to scale the highest peaks and to pierce
the heavens. They built up a magnificent language and in
the realm of art, they showed creative genius of the highest
order. That early period does not indicate a closed-in life
or a static society. We see also then the same cultural im-
pulses surging throughout the land of India. It was from
South India that the great colonizing expeditions went out
to South-East Asia. It was also from the South that the great
Bodhi-dharma went to China with the message of Budd-
hism. North and South joined in this great adventure of life,
each nourishing the other.

Speeches (1953-57), pp. 416-17: from Fore-
word to Dinkar’s Samskriti Ke Char Adhyaya.

THE INDIAN MIND

The Indian mind was extraordinarily analytical and had a
passion for putting ideas and concepts, and even life’s activ-
ities, into compartments. The Aryans not only divided soci-
ety into four main groups but also divided the individual’s
life into four parts: the first part consisted of growth, and ado-
lescence, the student period of life, acquiring knowledge,
developing self-discipline and self-control, continence; the
second was that of the householder and man of the world;
the third was that of the elder statesman, who had attained
a certain poise and objectivity, and could devote himself
to public work without the selfish desire to profit by it; and
the last stage was that of the recluse, who lived a life largely
cut off from the world’s activities. In this way also they
adjusted the two opposing tendencies which often exist side
by side in man — ^the acceptance of life in its fulness and
the rejection of it.

The Discovery of India, p. 86.

THE UNITY OF INDIA

Superficial observers of India, accustomed to the standard-
ization which modem industry has brought about in the
West, are apt to be impressed too much by the variety and
diversity of India. They miss the unity of India; and yet the
tremendous and fundamental fact of India is her essential

44

unity throughout the ages. Indian history runs into thou-
sands of years, and, of all modem nations, only China has
such a continuous and ancient background of culture. Five
to six thousand years ago the Indus Valley Civilization flour-
ished all over Northern India and probably extended to the
South also. Even there it was something highly developed,
with millenia of growth behind it. Since the early dawn of
history innumerable people, conquerors and settlers, pil-
grims and students, have trekked into the plains of India
from the highlands of Asia and have influenced Indian life
and culture and art; but always they have been absorbed
and assimilated. India was changed by these contacts and
yet she remained essentially her own old self. Like the
ocean she received the tribute of a thousand rivers, and
though she was disturbed often enough, and storms raged
over the surface of her waters, the sea continued to be the
sea. It is astonishing to note how India continued success-
fully this process of assimilation and adaptation. She could
only have done so iE the idea of a fundamental unity were
so deep-rooted as to be accepted even by the newcomer,
and if her culture were flexible and adaptable to changing
conditions.

Vincent Smith, in his ‘Oxford History of India’, refers to
what I have in mind: ‘India beyond aU doubt possesses a
deep underlying fundamental unity, far more profound
than that produced either by geographical isolation or by
political suzerainty. That unity transcends the innumerable
diversities of language, blood, colour, dress, manners and
sect.’

The Unity of India, p. 14.

INDIA CREATED UNITY OUT OF DIVERSITY

We see in the past that some mner urge towards synthesis,
derived essentially from the Indian philosophic outlook, was
the dominant feature of Indian cultural and even racial
development. Each incursion of foreign elements was a chal-
lenge to this culture, and it met it successfully by a new
S3mthesis and process of absorption. This was also a process
of rejuvenation and new blooms of culture arose out of it,
the background and essential basis, however, remaining

45

much the same. C. E. M. Joad has written about this: “What-
ever the reason, it is a fact that India’s special gift to man-
kind has been the ability and willingness of Indians to effect
a synthesis of many different elements both of thoughts and
peoples, to create, in fact, unity out of diversity.’

The Discovery of India, p. 75.

THE VITALITY OF INDIA

It is not some secret doctrine or esoteric knowledge that has
kept India vital and going through these long ages, but a
tender humanity, a varied and tolerant culture, and a deep
understanding of life and its mysterious ways. Her abimd-
ant vitality flows out from age to age in her magnificent lit-
erature and art, though we have only a small part of this
with us and much lies hidden still or has been destroyed
by nature’s or man’s vandalism. The Trimurti in the Ele-
phanta caves might well be the many-faced statue of India
herself, powerful, with compelling eyes, full of deep know-
ledge and understanding, looking down upon us. The Ajanta
frescoes are full of a tenderness and a love of beauty and
life, and yet always with a suspicion of something deeper,
something beyond.

The Discovery of India, p. 167.

INDIA SYMBOLIZES THE SPIRIT OF
HUMANITY

So long as India kept her mind open to the world and gave
of her riches to others, and received from them what she
lacked, she remained fresh and strong and vital. But the
more she withdrew into her shell, intent on preserving her-
self, uncontaminated by ejctemal influences, the more she
lost that inspiration and her life became increasingly a dull
routine of meaningless activities all centred in the dead past.
Losing the art of creating beauty, her children lost even
the capacity to recognize it . . .

‘From Persia to the Chinese Sea’, writes Sylvain Levi, ‘from
the icy regions of Siberia to the islands of Java and Borneo,
from Oceania to Socotra, India has propagated her beliefs,
her tales and her civilization. She has left indelible imprints
on one-fourth of the human race in the course of a long suc-

46

cession of centuries. She has the right to reclaim in univer-
sal history the rank that ignorance has refused her for a long
time and to hold her place amongst the great nations sum-
marizing and symbolizing the spirit of Humanity’.

The Discovery of India, pp. 238-40.

MEN DIFFERENT FROM THE COMMON CLAY

What gods there are, I know not; and I am not concerned
about them. But there are certain rare qualities which raise
a man above the common herd and make him appear as
though he were of different clay. The long story of human-
ity can be considered from many points of view; it is a story
of the advance and growth of man and the spirit of man; it
is also a story full of agony and tragedy. It is a story of
masses of men and women in ferment and in movement
and it is also the story of great and outstanding personalities
who have given content and shape to that movement of
masses.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 573: from Foreword to

D. G. Tendulkar’s Mahatma.

INDIA NOT AFRAID OF HER PROBLEMS

All over Asia we are passing through trials and tribulations.
In India also you will see conflict and trouble. Let us not be
disheartened by this; this is inevitable in an age of mighty
transition. There are a new vitality and creative impulses
in all the peoples of Asia. The masses are awake and they
demand their heritage. Strong winds are blowing aU over
Asia. Let us not be afraid of them, but rather welcome them
for only with their help can we build the new Asia of our
'dream s . Let us have faith in these great new forces and the
dream whicji is taking shape. Let us, above all, have faith
in the human spirit which Asia has symbolized for these
long ages past.

Independence and After, pp. 300-1: from
speech inaugurating the Asian Conference,
New Delhi, March 23, 1947.

47

GANDHI GAVE A STATURE TO INDIA

India has attained a great name in the world today for
various reasons. But the most important of these reasons is
Mahatma Gandhi. It is he who has given this great stature to
India, and that stature was not given because of India’s army
or navy or wealth, but because this giant among men showed
up the pettiness of the world in the moral sphere, of the
politicians of the world. So India gained this place because
people thought of India in certain moral terms. And they
were right in the sense that India had produced Gandhi,
though most of us were petty people, unworthy even of fol-
lowing him. So let us think of this problem in this context of
morality. And again, I come back to this, that we may diflEer
as we do — and I do not mind our differing — ^but whether we
differ or not, we must be clear in our minds about this, &at
we should not stoop to any low means, we should not stoop
to any violent means, we should not stoop to any vulgar
means.

Independence and After, p. 143: from address

at Silver Jubilee Convocation of Lucknow

University, January 28, 1949.

THE MAGIC OF TRANSITION

As I stand here, I feel the weight of all manner of things
crowding upon me. We are at the end of an era and pos-
sibly very soon we shall embark upon a new age; and my
mind goes back to the great past of India, to the 5,000 years
of India’s history, from the very dawn of that history which
might be considered almost the dawn of human history, till
today. All that past crowds upon me and exhilarates me and,
at the same time, somewhat oppresses me. Am I worthy of
that past? When I think also of the future, the greater future,
I hope, standing on this sword’s edge of the present between
the mighty past and the mightier future, I tremble a little
and feel overwhelmed by this mighty task. We have come
here at a strange moment in India’s tiistory. I do not know,
but I do feel that there is some magic in this moment of
transition from the old to the new, something of that magic
which one sees when the night turns into day and even

48

though the day may be a cloudy one, it is day after all, for
when the clouds move away, we can see the sun again.
Because of all this I find a little difficulty in addressing this
House and putting all my ideas before it and I feel also that
in this long succession of thousands of years, I see the mighty
figures that have come and gone and I see also the long
succession of our comrades who have laboured for the free-
dom of India. And now we stand on the verge of this passing
age, trying, labouring, to usher in the new . . .

I think also of the various Constituent Assemblies that
have gone before and of what took place at the making of
the great American nation when the fathers of that nation
met and fashioned a Constitution which has stood the test
of so many years, more than a century and a half, and of
the great nation which has resulted, which has been built
up on the basis of that Constitution. My mind goes back
to that mighty revolution which took place also over 150
years ago and the Constituent Assembly that met in that
gracious and lovely city of Paris which has fought so many
battles for freedom. My mind goes back to the difficulties
that the Constituent Assembly had to face from the King
and other authorities, and still it continued. The House will
remember that when these difficulties came and even the
room for a meeting was denied to that Constituent Assem-
bly, they betook themselves to an open tennis court and
met there and took the oath, which is called the Oath of
the Tennis Court. They continued in spite of Kings, in spite
of the others, and did not disperse till they had finished the
task they had imdertaken. Well, I trust that it is in that
solemn spirit that we too are meeting here and that we too,
whether we meet in this chamber or in the fields or in the
market place, will go on meeting and continue our work till
we have finished it.

Then my mind goes back to a more recent revolution
which gave rise to a new type of State, the revolution that
took place in Russia and out of which has arisen the Union
of the Soviet Socialistic Republics, another mighty country
which is playing a tremendous part in the world, not only
a mighty country, but for us in India, a neighbouring
country.

So our miud goes back to these great examples and we

D 49

seek to learn from their success and to avoid their failures.
Perhaps we may not be able to avoid their failures, because
some measure of failure is inherent in human effort. Never-
theless, we shall advance, I am certain, in spite of obstruc-
tions and difficulties, and achieve and reahze the dream
that we have dreamt so long.

Independence and After, pp. 346-8: from
speech at the Constituent Assembly, New
Delhi, December 13, 1946.

MOHENJO-DARO

I stood on a mound of Mohenjo-daro in the Indus valley in
the north-west of India, and all around me lay the houses
and streets of this ancient city that is said to have existed
over five thousand years ago; and even then it was an old
and well-developed civilization. ‘The Indus civilization’,
writes Professor Childe, ‘represents a very perfect adjust-
ment of human life to a specified environment that can only
have resulted from years of patient effort. And it has en-
dured; it is already specificially Indian and forms the basis
of Indian culture’. Astonishing thought: that any culture or
civilization should have this continuity for five or six thou-
sand years or more; and not in a static, unchanging sense,
for India was changing and progressing all the time.

The Discovery of India, pp. 42-3.

CONFIDENCE IN THE FUTURE

There is in me a sense of confidence in the future; in India’s
future, in the world’s future. A confidence which I cannot
justify by any reasoning because if I sit down to reason, all
kinds of other thoughts come in. This feeling is helped,
partly, I suppose, by my relative good health. I have a sense
of adventure and joy in life; in work and in doing things in
general. And this carries me very far, without ever depress-
ing me.

Conversations with Mr. Nehru, p. 42.

Indians Struggle For Freedom

THE GOAL OF INDIA

That is the goal of India — a united, free, democratic
country, closely associated in a world federation with other
free nations. We want independence, but not the old type of
narrow, exclusive independence. We believe that the day of
separate warring national States should be ended.

We want independence and not Dominion or any other
status. Every thinking person knows that the whole concep-
tion of Dominion Status belongs to past history; it has no
future. It cannot survive this war, whatever the results of
this war. But whether it survives or not, we want none of
it. We do not want to be bound down to a group of nations
which has dominated and exploited us; we will not be in an
empire in some parts of which we are treated as helots and
where raciahsm runs riot. We want to cut adrift from the
financial domination of the City of London. We want to be
completely free with no reservation or exceptions, except
such as we ourselves approve, in common with others, in
order to create a Federation of Nations, or a new World
Order. If this new World Order or Federation does not
come in the near future, we should like to be closely associ-
ated in a Federation with our neighbours — China, Burma,
Ceylon, Afghanistan, Persia. We are prepared to take risks
and face dangers. We do not want the so-called protection
of the British Army or Navy. We will shift for ourselves.

The Unity of India, pp. 388-9.

INDIA NEED NOT FEAR ANY GREAT POWER

I can understand some of the smaller countries of Europe
or some of the smaller countries of Asia being forced by cir-
cumstances to bow down before some of the greater Powers
and becoming practically satellites of those Powers because

51

they cannot help it. The power opposed to them is so great
and they have nowhere to turn. But I do not think that con-
sideration applies to India.

We are not citizens of a weak or mean country and I think
it is foohsh for us to get frightened, even from a military
point of view, of the greatest of the Powers today. Not that
I delude myself about what can happen to us if a great Power
in a mihtary sense goes against us; I have no doubt it can
iujure us. But after all in the past, as a national movement,
we opposed one of the greatest of world powers. We
opposed it in a particular way and in a large measure suc-
ceeded in that way, and I have no doubt that if the worst
comes to the worst — and in a military sense we cannot meet
these Great Powers — it is far better for us to fight in our
own way than submit to them and lose all the ideals we
have.

Therefore, let us not be frightened too much of the mili-
tary might of this or that group. I am not frightened and
I want to tell the world on behalf of this country that we
are not frightened of the military might of this Power or that.
Our policy is not a passive policy or a negative pohcy.

Independence and After, p. 213: from a speech
at the Constituent Assembly, New Delhi,
March 8, 1948.

A HARD TASK BEFORE US

We do not underestimate the difficulties before us. We have
a hard task, hard because of external opposition, harder
still because of our own weaknesses. It is always more diffi-
cult to fight one’s own failings than the power of an adver-
sary. We have to do both. We have social evils, with the
authority of long tradition and habit behind them. We have
within us the elements which have gone to build up Fascism
in other countries. We have inertia and a tame submission
to fate and its decrees. But we have also a new awakening
of the vital spirit of India. The static uncreative period is
over, a himger for change and for the ending of misery and
poverty has seized the masses. The world is shaken by war
and alarms of wars. No one knows what horror and in-
human cruelty and destruction — or human progress — ^the

52

future holds for us. Be that as it may, India will no longef
be merely a passive instrument of destiny or of another’s
will.

The Unity of India, pp. 25-6.

OTHERS WILL TAKE OUR PLACE ON THE
MARCH TO FREEDOM

In this India, crying aloud for radical and fundamiental
change, in this world pregnant with revolutionary and
dynamic possibility, are we to forget our mission and our
historic destiny, and slide back to static futility? And if
some of us feel tired and hunger for rest and quiet, do we
imagine that India’s masses will follow our lead when ele-
mental forces and economic necessity are driving them to
their inevitable goal? If we enter the backwaters, others will
take our place on the bosom of the flowing stream and will
dare to take the rapids and ride the torrent.

India and the World, pp. 90-1.

THE ECONOMIC ASPECT OF INDIA’s
STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM

Mahatma Gandhi taught us to view our national struggle
always in terms of the under-privileged and those to whom
opportunity had been denied. Therefore, there was always
an economic facet to our political struggle for freedom. We
realized that there was no real freedom for those who suf-
fered continually from want and because there were mil-
lions who lacked the barest necessities of existence in India,
we thought of freedom in terms of raising and bettering the
lot of these people. Having achieved political freedom, it is
our passionate desire to serve our people in this way and to
remove the many burdens they have carried for many gen-
erations past. Gandhi said on one occasion that it was his
supreme ambition to wipe every tear from every eye. That
was an ambition beyond even his power to realize, for many
millions of eyes have shed tears in India, in Asia and in the
rest of the world; and perhaps it may never be possible com-
pletely to stop this unending flow of human want and
misery and suffering; and what are politics and all our argu-

53

ments worth if they do not have this aim in view?

Independence and After, p. 160: from a talk
broadcast from New Delhi, January 18, 1948.

INniA DESTINED TO PLAY A GREAT PART IN
THE WORLD

In India we are very different from what we were in 1914.
We have gained strength and political consciousness and a
capacity for united action. In spite of our manifold difficul-
ties and problems, we are no weak nation today. Our voice
counts to some extent, even in international affairs. If we
had been free we might have even succeeded in preventing
this war. Sometimes the Irish analogy is placed before us.
While we may learn much from Ireland and her struggle for
freedom, we must remember that we are placed differently.
Ireland is a small country which is geographically and econ-
omically tied to Britain. Even an independent Ireland can-
not make much difference to world affairs. Not so India. A
free India, with her vast resources, can be of great service
to the world and to humanity. India will always make a
difference to the world; fate has marked us for big things.
When we fall, we fall low; when we rise, inevitably we
play our part in the world drama.

The Unity of India, p. 307.

MERE DEMONSTRATIONS WILL NOT BUILD
THE NATION

Today people seem to imagine that work lies in marching up
and down the streets and calling it a demonstration; or stop-
ping work, whether it is in a factory or in a school, or some-
where else, calling it a hartal; or some other kind of demon-
strative activity. Now, maybe that has its uses sometimes,
no doubt it has. But I do tell you, and I teU you in all
sincerity, that I can imagine no greater crime to India than
the kind of thing that is going on today. I am not joking
with you. I have a few more years of activity and I want to
see India great and strong, a flourishing State, not only
doing its duty to its own people, but to the whole wide
world. And when I see our young men behaving as they

54

do, when I see young men and hysterical young women mis-
behaving, I am angry, I tell you. Is all the work we have
done just going to be lost because some hysterical people
talk nonsense in this way, and behave in a nonsensical man-
ner? What is happening here — ^is that your idea of liberty
and democracy and freedom? I am amazed at this business.

I want to be frank with you about it. This is not the way
we are going to build up our nation.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 128: from speech at the
Silver Jubilee Convocation of the Lucknow
University, January 28, 1949.

THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW

All of US have dining these many years past been through
the valley of the shadow; we have passed our lives in oppo-
sition, in struggle and sometimes in failure and sometimes
in success and most of us are haunted by these dreams and
visions of old days and those hopes that filled us and the
frustration that often followed those hopes; yet we have
seen that even from that prickly thorn of frustration and
despair, we have been able to pick the rose of fulfilment.

Independence and After, p. 272: from speech
in the Constituent Assembly, New Delhi, May
16, 1949.

INDIA WILLING TO CO-OPERATE WITH HER
ERSTWHILE OPPONENTS

I wanted the world to see that India had faith in herself
and that India was prepared to co-operate even with those
with whom she had been fighting in the past; provided the
basis of co-operation today was honourable, that it was a
free basis, a basis which would lead to the good not only of
ourselves, but of the world also. That is to say, we would
not deny that co-operation, simply because in the past we
had fought, and thus carry on the trail of our past karma
along with us. We have to wash out the past with all its
evil. I wanted, if I may say so in all humility, to help in
letting the world look at things in a sHghtly different per-
spective, or rather try to see how vital questions could be

55

approached and dealt with.

Independence and After, p. 278: from speech
in the Constituent Assembly, New Delhi,
May 16, 1949.

56

Ends and Means

ENDS AND MEANS

Ends and means: were they tied up so inseparably, acting
and reacting on each other, the wrong means distorting and
sometimes even destroying the end in view? But the right
means might well be beyond the capacity of infirm and
selfish human nature. What then was one to do? Not to act
was a complete confession of failure and a submission to
evil; to act meant often enough a compromise with some
form of that evil, with all the untoward consequences that
such compromises result in.

The Discovery of India, p. 13.

RIGHT MEANS ALWAYS IMPORTANT.

Well, there is this question of means which you have just
mentioned. Faith grew in me that die right means are
always important and vital, although, naturally, for a poli-
tician, one always has to choose die lesser evil. A leader
cannot divorce himself from the masses; not completely. He
may be at some distance, pushing or pulling them. But if
he divorces himself, well ... he may be a great man, but
he is not a leader. He has lost touch. Therefore he has to
compromise. But the point is that the compromise should
not be on any basic principle. . . . Again, I had read the
Gita occasionally and admired it. I read it again and again.
Not from a philosophical or from a theological point of view,
but it had numerous parts which had a powerful effect on
me. The sort of thing that if a person does the right thing
the right results will flow from it. Gradually, I began to
develop the thought to apply my scientific mind to this busi-
ness and I came to the conclusion that every action has, nat-
urally, a result. Every right action must have, to that extent,
a right result, even though it may not be sure; and that,

57

somewhere, every wrong action must have a wrong result.

Conversations with Mr Nehru, pp, 30-1,

A LESSON LEARNT FROM MY GREAT MASTER

If I have gained any experience in the last thirty or forty
years of my public life or if I have learnt any lesson from
the Great Master who taught us many things, it is this, a
crooked policy does not pay in the end. It may pay
temporarily.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 267: from speech in Par-
liament, New Delhi, February 3, 1950.

RIGHT COURSE ESSENTIAL EVEN FOR
GAINING A PRESENT ADVANTAGE

I am quite convinced that, if we adhere to the right course
and do not stray from it, even from the opportunist point
of view of some present advantage, we shall win through,
and any country that bases its case on an essential false-
hood cannot gain its ends.

Independence and After, p. 99: from speech
in the Constituent Assembly, New Delhi, Sep-
tember 7, 1948.

THE MORAL LAW

I have become more and more convinced that so long as we
do not recognize the supremacy of the moral law in our
national and international relations, we shall have no endur-
ing peace. So long as we do not adhere to right means, the
end will not be right and fresh evil wiU flow from it. That was
the essence of Gandhiji’s message and mankind will have
to appreciate it in order to see and act clearly. When eyes
are bloodshot vision is limited. I have no doubt in my mind
that World Government must and will come, for there is
no other remedy for the world’s sickness. The machinery for
it is not difficult to devise. It can be an extension of the
federal principle, a growth of the idea underlying the
United Nations, giving each national unit freedom to fashion

58

its (Jestiny according to its genius, but subject always to tiie
basic covenant of the World Government.

■Independence and After, p. 303: from a broad-
cast talk to the U.S.A. from Delhi, April 3,
1948.

THE ETHICAL APPHOACH
The ethical approach to life has a strong appeal for me.

The Discovery of India, p. 17.

MORAL VALUES

We cannot ignore moral values except at peril to ourselves.

Independence and After, p. 39: from broad-
cast talk from New Delhi, on the First Anni-
versary of Mahatma Gandhi’s death, January
30, 1949.

EVIL FLOURISHES IN THE DARK

Evil flourishes far more in the dark than in the Hght of day.

The Unity of India, p. 68.

MEANS CANNOT BE SEPARATED FROM ENDS

I think that there is always a close and intimate relationship
between the end we aim at and the means adopted to att^
it. Even if the end is right but the means are wrong, it udll
vitiate the end or divert us in a wrong direction. Means and
ends are thus intimately and inextricably connected and
catmot be separated. That, indeed, has been the lesson of
old taught us by many great men in the past but unfortun-
ately it is seldom remembered.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 396: from address de-
livered on the conJFerment on him of the hon-
orary degree of Doctor of Laws at Columbia
University, New York, October 17, 1949.

THE ETHICAL TRADITION OF MAHATMA
GANDHI

We, the great majority of members of this House and vast
numbers of people in this country, have spent our lives in

59

what might be called revolutionary activity, in conflict with
authority. We are bred in the tradition of revolution and
now we sit in the seat of authority and have to deal with
difficult problems. That adjustment is not an easy adjust-
ment at any time for anyone. Then again, not only were we
revolutionaries and agitators and breakers up of many things,
but we were bred in a high tradition under Mahatma
Gandhi. That tradition is an ethical tradition, a moral trad-
ition and at the same time it is an application of those
ethical and moral doctriues to practical politics. That great
man placed before us a technique of action which was
unique in the world, which combined political activity and
political conflict and a struggle for freedom with certain
moral and ethical principles. Now, I dare not say that any
of us, not all of us, lived up to those ethical principles and
I do dare to say that in the course of the past thirty years
or so aU of us, in a smaller or greater degree, was affected
by those moral eind ethical doctrines of the Great Master
and Leader.

Independence and After, pp. 233-4: from

speech in the Constituent Assembly, New

Delhi, March 8, 1949.

ETHICS AND THE GOOD LIFE

In spite of this conclusion arrived at by psychological and
metaphysical analysis which ultimately reduces the concep-
tion of the invisible world or the absolute to pure conscious-
ness, and thus to nothing, so far as we can use or compre-
hend words, it is emphasised that ethical relations have a
definite value in our finite world. So in our lives and in our
human relations we have to conform to ethics and live the
good life. To that life and to this phenomenal world we can
and should apply reason and knowledge and experience.

The Discovery of India, p. 194.

60

Truth

TRUTH

Let US tread the path of truth and dharma.

Independence and After, p. 27: from speech
on the occasion of the immersion of Mahatma
Gandhi’s ashes at the confluence of the
Ganges and the Jumna at Allahabad, Febru-
ary 12, 1948.

THE TRUE PATH OF MAN

The true path of man is the path of truth and peace.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 122: from address at
the East and West Association, New York,
October 19, 1949.

GOVERNMENTS DISLIKE TRUTH AND ITS
SEEKERS

Evidently governments do not like people who are always
trying to find out things; they do not like the search for
truth.

Glimpses of World History, Vol. I, p. 68.

STATESMEN AND TRUTH

A statesman or a politician, or call him what you will, has
to deal not only with the truth, but with mens receptivity
of that truth, because if there is not sufficient response to
it from the politician s or statesman’s point of view, that truth
is banished into the wilderness till minds are ripe for it.

Independence and After, p. 235: from speech
in the Constituent Assembly, New Delhi,
March 8, 1949.

61

TRUTH IS THE ULTIMATE VICTOR

Though truth may occasionally be suppressed, it can never
be put down.

The foundations of a lasting victory can only be laid on the
rock of truth.

Independence and After, pp. 26 and 28: from
speech on the occasion of the immersion of
Mahatma Gandhi’s ashes at the confluence of
the Ganges and the Jumna at Allahabad on
February 12, 1948.

I AM IN QUEST OF THE TRUTH

I am something other than a Prime Minister, too. I am also
a human being. I often find myself struggling for some light,
for a vision of what one should do, for a glimpse of the truth
and of the pathway to the truth.

Speeches (1949-53), pp. 370-1: from address at
the UNESCO Indian National Commission,
New Delhi, March 24, 1951.

TRUTH IS NOT THE MONOPOLY
OF SCIENTISTS

Scientists should note that they do not have a monopoly of
the truth; that nobody has a monopoly, no country, no
people, no book. Truth is too vast to be contained in the
minds of beings, or in books, however sacred.

Speeches (1953-57), p. 433: from speech at the
Science Congress, Calcutta, January 14, 1957.

Buddha’s conception of truth

The Buddha asked no man to believe anything except what
could be proved by experiment and trial. All he wanted men
to do was to seek the truth and not accept anything on the
word of another, even though it be of the Buddha himself.
That seems to me the essence of his message, besides toler-
ance and compassion; and it struck me that the message, far
from being out of date today, had a peculiar significance in

62

this world of ours.

Speeches (1953-57), p. 432: from speech at the
Science Congress, Calcutta, January 14, 1957.

THE UPANISHADS

The Upanishads are instinct with a spirit of inquiry, of
mental adventure, of a passion for finding out the truth
about things. The search for this truth is of course not by
objective methods of modem science, yet there is an ele-
ment of the scientific method m that approach. No dogma
is allowed to come m the way. There is much that is trivial
and without meaning or relevance for us today. The empha-
sis is essentially on self-realization, on knowledge of the
individual self and the Absolute Self, both of which are said
to be the same in essence. The objective external world is
not considered unreal but real in a relative sense, an aspect
of the inner reality.

Probably the ethic of individual perfection was over-
emphasized and hence the social outlook sufEered. ‘There is
nothing higher than the person, say the Upanishads. Society
must have been considered as stabilized and hence the mind
of man was continually thinking of individual perfection,
and in quest of this it wandered about in the heavens and
in the innermost recesses of the heart. This old Indian
approach was not a narrow nationalistic one, though there
must have been a feeling that India was the hub of the
world, just as China and Greece and Rome felt at various
times. ‘The whole world of mortals is an interdependent
organism’, says the Mahdbharata.

The dominating characteristic of the Upanishads is the
dependence on tmth. ‘Truth wins ever, not falsehood. With
truth is paved the way to the Divine.’ And the famous invo-
cation is for light and understanding: ‘Lead me from the
unreal to the real! Lead me from darkness to Ught! Lead me
from death to immortality!’

The Discovery of India, pp. 91-2.

TRUTH INCOMPREHENSIBLE TO MAN IN ITS
FULNESS

Truth as ultimate reality, if such there is, must be eternal,

63

imperishable, unchanging. But that infinite, eternal and un-
changing truth cannot he apprehended in its fulness by the
finite mind of man which can only grasp, at most, some
email aspect of it limited by time and space, and by the state
of development of that mind and the prevailing ideology of
the period. As the mind develops and enlarges its scope, as
ideologies change and new symbols are used to express that
truth, new aspects of it come to light, though the core of
it may yet be the same. And so, truth has ever to be sought
and renewed, reshaped and developed, so that, as under-
stood by man, it might keep in line with the growth of his
thought and the development of human life. Only then does
it become a living truth for humanity, supplying the essen-
tial need for which it craves, and offering guidance in the
present and for the future.

The Discovery of India, p. 621.

THE TRUTH OF SCIENCE CANNOT BE
SUPPRESSED

We have now these mysteries which the high priests of
science flourish before us, not only flourish but threaten us
with. They make us feel full of wonder and full of fear.
These new mysteries of science and of higher mathematics
unveil various aspects of the physical world to us. No one
knows where this will lead us to. Some of us may feel
frightened but in the ultimate, we should never be fright-
ened of the truth. We caimot suppress trutih; we cannot
suppress the desire of man to unravel, to discover, to pro-
gress, even though it may land him in dangerous situations.
If the hiunan mind by chance takes the wrong turn, well, it
suffers the consequences. Therefore it is no good trying to
stop this quest.

Speeches (1953-57), p. 505: from speech at the
inauguration of the Swimming Pool Reactor,
Trombay, January 20, 1957.

NO ONE KNOWS THE WHOLE TRUTH

Can we presume to imagine that we know the whole truth
and to force this down the throat of our neighbour? It may

64

be we are right. It may be that our neighbour is also right.

Glimpses of World History, Vol. I, p. 260.

WHAT IS TRUTH?

We did not grow much more truthful, perhaps, than we had
been previously, but Gandhi was always there as a symbol
of rmcompromising truth to pull us up and shame us into
truth. What is truth? I do not know for certain, and perhaps
our truths are relative and absolute truth is beyond us. Dif-
ferent persons may and do take different views of truth, and
each individual is powerfully influenced by his own back-
ground, tr ainin g and impulses. So also Gandhi. But truth
is at least for an individual what he himself feels and knows
to be true. According to that definition I do not know of
any person who holds to the truth as Gandhi does. That is a
dangerous quality in a politician for he speaks out his mind
and even lets the public see its changing phases.

The Discovery of India, p. 428.

CLASH OF TRUTH AND POLITICAL LIFE

It is never easy to reconcile a strict adherence to truth as
one sees it with the exigencies and expediences of life, and
especially of political life. Normally people do not even
worry themselves over this problem. They keep truth apart
in some comer of their minds, if they keep it at all any-
where, and accept expediency as the measure of action. In
politics that has been the universal rule, not only because
unfortunately politicians are a peculiar species of opportun-
ists, but because they cannot act purely on the personal
plane. They have to make others act, and so they have to
consider the limitations of others and their understanding
of and receptivity to truth. And because of this they have to
make compromises with that truth and adapt it to the pre-
vailing circumstances. That adaptation becomes inevitable,
and yet there are risks always attending it, and the tendency
to ignore and abandon truth grows and expediency becomes
the sole criterion of action.

The Discovery of India, pp. 537-§,

F. 65

THE PLACE OF TRUTH IN LIFE

An eminent person said long ago, that you cannot discard
truth but it maJces all the difference in the world whether
you put truth in the first place or in the second.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 254: from speech in
Parliament, New Delhi, February 18, 1953.

RELIGIONS HAVE TRIED TO IMPRISON TRUTH

Religions have helped greatly in the development of human-
ity. They have laid down values and standards and have
pointed out principles for the guidance of human hfe. But
with all the good that they have done, they have also tried
to imprison truth in set forms and dogmas, and encouraged
ceremonials and practices which soon lose all their original
meaning and become mere routine. While impressing upon
man the awe and mystery of the unknown that surrounds
him on all sides, they have discouraged him from trying to
understand not only the unknown but what might come in
the way of social effort. Instead of encouraging curiosity
and thought, they have preached a philosophy of submis-
sion to nature, to the established church, to the prevailing
social order, and to everything that is. The belief in a super-
natural agency which ordains everything has led to a certain
irresponsibility on the social plane, and emotion and senti-
mentality have taken the place of reasoned thought and
enquiry. Religion, though it has undoubtedly brought com-
fort to innumerable human beings and stabilized society by
its values, has checked the tendency to change and progress
inherent in human society.

The Discovery of India, p. 622.

THE TRUTH OF MAHATMA GANDHI

What was his great power over the mind and heart of man
due to? Ages to come will judge and we are too near him to
assess the many facets of his extraordinarily rich personality.
But even we realize that the dominating passion of his life
was truth. That truth led him to proclaim without ceasing
that good ends can never be attained by evil methods, that
the end itself is distorted if the method pursued is bad. That

66

truth led him to confess publicly whenever he thought he
had made a mistake — ^Himalayan errors he called some of
his own mistakes. That truth led him to fight evil and un-
truth wherever he formd them regardless of the conse-
quences. That truth made the service of the poor and the dis-
possessed the passion of his life, for where there is inequality
and discrimination and suppression, there is injustice and evil
and untruth. And thus he became the beloved of all those
who have suffered from social and political evils, and the
great representative of humanity as it should be. Because of
that truth in him, wherever he sat became a temple and
where he trod was hallowed ground.

Independence and After, p. 30: from a talk
broadcast from New Delhi, February 14,
1948.

67

Non-Violence

PRINCIPLE OF NON-VIOLENCE ATTRACTED

ME

What I admired was the moral and ethical side of our move-
ment and of Satyagraha. I did not give an absolute allegi-
ance to the doctrine of non-violence or accept it for ever,
but it attracted me more and more, and the belief grew
upon me that, situated as we were in India and with our
background and traditions, it was the right policy for us.
The spiritualization of politics, using the word not in its
narrow religious sense, seemed to me a fine idea. A worthy
end should have worthy means leading up to it. That
seemed not only a good ethical doctrine, but sound, prac-
tical politics, for the means that are not good often defeat
the end in view and raise new problems and difficulties.
And then it seemed so unbecoming, so degrading to the
self-respect of an individual or a nation to submit to such
means, to go through the mire. How can one escape being
sullied by it? How can we march ahead swiftly and with
dignity if we stoop or crawl?

Such were my thoughts then. And the non-co-operation
movement offered me what I wanted — ^the goal of national
freedom and (as I thought) the ending of the exploitation of
the under-dog, and the means which satisfied my moral
sense and gave me a sense of personal freedom. So great was
this personal satisfaction that even a possibility of failure
did not count for much, for such failure could only be tem-
porary. I did not understand or feel drawn to the meta-
physical part of the Bhagvad Gita, but I liked to read the
verses — ^recited every evening in Gandhiji’s ashram prayers
— ^which say what a man should be like: Calm of purpose,
serene and unmoved, doing his job and not caring overmuch
for the result of his action. Not being very cahn or detached
myself, I suppose, this ideal appealed to me all the more.

Autobiography, p. 73.

68

SATY AGBAHA

Satyagraha was a definite, though non-violent, form of resis-
tance to what was considered wrong. It was, in effect, a
peaceftil rebellion, a most civilized form of warfare, and
yet dangerous to the stability of the State. It was an effec-
tive way of getting the masses to function and it seemed to
fit in with the peculiar genius of the Indian people. It put
us on our best behaviour and seemed to put the adversary
in the wrong. It made us shed the fear that oushed us and
we began to look people in the face as we had never done
before, and to speak out our minds fully and frankly. A great
weight seemed to be lifted from our minds and this new
freedom of speech and action filled us with confidence and
strength. And, finally, the method of peace prevented to a
large extent the growth of those terribly bitter racial and
national hatreds which had always so far accompanied such
struggles, and thus made the ultimate settlement easier.

Glimpses of World History, Vol. II, pp. 1124-5.

PATH OF VIOLENCE IS PERILOUS

The path of violence is perilous and freedom seldom exists
for long where there is violence.

Independence and After, p. 26; from speech
on the occasion of the immersion of the ashes
of Mahatma Gandhi at the confluence of the
Ganges and the Jumna, Allahabad, February
12, 1948.

PREACHING OF VIOLENCE

No government can tolerate the preachmg of violence.

The Unity of India, p. 68.

VIOLENCE DOES NOT LEAD TO PEACE

Surely the lesson of those wars has been that out of hatred
and violence you will not build peace. It is a contradiction
in terms. The lesson of history, the long course of history,
and more especially the lesson of the last two great wars

69

which have devastated humanity, has been that out of
hatred and violence only hatred and violence will come. We
have got into a cycle of hatred and violence, and not the
most brilliant debate will get you out of it, unless you look
some other way and find some other means. It is obvious
that if you continue in this cycle and have wars which this
assembly was especially meant to avoid and prevent, the
result will not only be tremendous devastation all over the
world, but non-achievement by any individual Power or
group of its objective.

Independence and After, p. 319: from address
to the United Nations General Assembly, Paris,
November 3, 1948.

VIOLENCE STILL POWERFUL IN THE WORLD

Few of US, I suppose, can say that the era of violence is
over or is likely to end soon. Today violence flourishes in its
intensest and most destructive and inhuman form, as never
before. It will die or it will kill a good part of the world.
The sword, as ever, is a shift for fools,

To hide their folly.

The Unity of India, p. 354.

VIOLENCE A CHILD OF PRESENT ECONOMIC
STRUCTURE

Violence and monopoly and concentration of wealth in a
few hands are produced by the present economic structure.
It is not large scale industry that brings any injustice and
violence but the misuse of large scale industry by private
capitalists and financiers. It is true that the big machine mul-
tiplies the power of man exceedingly both for construction
and destruction, both for good and for ill. It is possible, I
think, to eliminate the evil use and the violence of the big
machine by changing the economic structure of capitalism.
It is essentially private ownership and the acquisitive form
of society that encourage a competitive violence. Under a
socialist society this evil should go, at the same time leaving
us the good wiiich the big machine has brought.

A Bunch of Old Letters, p. 382: from letter to
Krisna Kripalani, dated September 29, 1939.

70

VIOLENCE BETTER THA.N COWARDICE

I do recognize that under certain circumstances one has to
fight. It depends less on theory than on the background of
the people; on what they can do. Even Mr Gandhi, who was
a great pacifist, always said that it is better to fight than to
be afraid. It is better to indulge in violence than to run
away.

Conversations loith Mr Nehru, p. 79.

IS THE INDIAN GOVERNMENT PLEDGED TO
NON-VIOLENCE?

Acharya Kripalani put a straight question: whether our Gov-
ernment was pledged to non-violence? The answer to that
is no, the Government is not. As far as I can conceive, under
the existing circumstances, no Government can be pledged
to non-violence. If we were pledged to non-violence, surely
we would not keep any army, navy or air force — ^and pos-
sibly not even a police force. I do not know. One may have
an ideal. One may adhere to a policy leading in a certain
direction, and yet, because of existing circumstances, one
cannot give effect to that ideal. We have to wait for it for
some time. Acharya Kripalani reminded us of Mahatma
Gandhi, saying that the Polish defence against the German
armies might also be called satyagraha. Also Gandhiji de-
fended — ^not only defended but also encouraged — ^the
India Army going to Kashmir to defend Kashmir against the
raiders. It is surprising that a man like Gandhiji, who was
absolutely committed to non-violence, should do that kind
of thing. So that, even he, in certain circumstances, admitted
the right of the State, as it is constituted, to commit violence
in defence. The Government of India, obviously, cannot give
up that right in the existing circumstances. Nevertheless,
we have made it perfectly clear that we shall use force
only in defence and that we shall not provoke a war or start
a war or adopt any aggresive tactics in regard to a war.
That is our policy.

Speeches (1953-57), p. 382; from speech in
Lok Sabha, New Delhi on ‘Foreign Footholds’,
July 26, 1955.

71

ATOMIC ENERGY AND ITS SYMBOLS

The dominant fact of the modem world is atomic energy
and its dreadful symbols, the atomic bomb and the hydro-
gen bomb. If these terrible weapons are let loose on human-
ity, then all our hopes are dashed to the ground and human-
ity perishes. We have protested against war and against the
production and experimentation of these weapons. It must
be remembered that even without war, if these experiments
of explosions of the hydrogen bomb go on, the future of
humanity is imperilled, as eminent scientists tell us. And yet
we have recently had such an experiment in the Soviet
Union and we are told that there is going to be another
experiment in the Pacific area. All this is of tremendous
practical importance to every human being and it raises
moral issues of great significance.

Speeches (1953-57), p. 184: from broadcast
from New Delhi, January 16, 1956.

WAR

Armed might affords no adequate solution for the problems
of the world.

The more I live and the more I grow in experience, the
more convinced I am of the futility and the wickedness of
war as a means of solving a problem.

The consequences of acting in a passion are always bad for
an individual; but they are infinitely worse for a nation.

Feelings of hatred and violence weaken us.

Those who choose the path of violence have no faith in
democracy.

Speeches (1949-53), pp. 208, 350, 348, 328, 242:
from addresses on various occasions.

A SOLDIER

A soldier is a very excellent person in his own domain but
somebody once said — think it was a French statesman —

72

that even war was too serious a thing to be handed over to
a soldier to control, much less peace. The incursion of the
military mentality in the Chancellories of the world is a dan-
gerous development. How can we meet it? I confess that
we in India cannot make too much of a diflEerence. Of course,
we cannot take the world on our shoulders and remodel it
according to our heart’s desire; but we can help in creating a
climate of peace which is so essential for the realization of
our objectives.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 249: from speech in

Parliament, New Delhi, February 18, 1953.

NON-VIOLENT R.ESISTANCE TO WAR

Many people criticized with considerable sarcasm what
seemed to them the absurd notion of resisting an invading
army with these methods of non-violent non-co-operation.
Yet far from being absurd, it was the only method, and a
very brave method, left to the people. The advice was not
offered to the armed forces, nor was peaceful resistance put
forward as an alternative to armed resistance. That advice
was meant only for the unarmed civilian population which
almost invariably submits to the invader when its armed
forces are defeated or withdrawn. Apart from die regular
armed forces, it is possible to organize guerrilla units to
harass the enemy. But this was not possible for us, for it
requires training, arms, and the full co-operation of the regu-
lar army. And even if some guerrilla units could have been
trained, the rest of the population remained. Normally the
civilian population is expected to submit to enemy occupa-
tion. Indeed it was known that directions had been issued
by the British authorities in certain threatened areas advis-
ing submission, even by some of the petty officials, to the
enemy when the army and the higher officials withdrew.

We knew perfectly well that peaceful non-co-operation
could not stop an advancing enemy force. We knew also
that most of the civilian inhabitants would find it difficult to
resist even if they wanted to do so. Nevertheless we hoped
that some leading personalities in the towns and villages
occupied by the enemy would refuse to submit or carry out
the enemy’s orders, or help in getting provisions or in any

73

other way. That would have meant swift punishment for
thfiTTij very probably death as well as reprisals. We expected
this non-submission and resistance to death even of a lim-
ited number of persons to have a powerful efEect on the gen-
eral population not only in the area concerned but in the
rest of India. Thus we hoped that a national spirit of resist-
ance might be built up.

The Discovery of India, pp. 564-5.

I WAS FASCINATED BY THE PROSPECT OF A
JAPANESE INVASION

Much as I hated war, the prospect of a Japanese invasion
of India had in no way frightened me. At the back of my
mind I was in a sense attracted to this coming of war, hor-
rible as it was, to India. For I wanted a tremendous shake-
up, a personal experience for millions of people, which
would drag them out of that peace of the grave that Britain
had imposed on us. Something that would force them to face
the reality of today and to outgrow their past which clung
to them so tenaciously, to get beyond the petty political
squabbles and exaggerations of temporary problems which
filled their minds. Not to break with the past, and yet not
to live in it; realize the present and look to the future. . . .
To change the rhythm of life and make it in tune with this
present and the future. The cost of war was heavy and the
consequences full of uncertainty. The war was not of our
seeking but since it had come, it could be made to harden
the fibre of the nation and provide those vital experiences
out of which a new life might blossom forth. Vast numbers
would die, that was inevitable, but it is better to die in war
than through famine; it is better to die than to live a miser-
able, hopeless life. Out of death, hfe is bom afresh, and
individuals and nations who do not know how to die, do not
know also how to live. ‘Only where there are graves are there
resurrections.’

The Discovery of India, p. 566.

74

Nationalism and Internationalism

NATIONALISM

Nationalism has a place in each country and should be
fostered, but it must not be allowed to become aggressive
and come in the way of international development.

Independence and After, p. 300.

National isolation is neither a desirable nor a possible ideal
in a world which is daily becoming more of a unit.

India and the World, p. 61.

The only possibility of achieving real peace lies in greater
and greater international co-operation on every plane.

Independence and After, p. 313.

The narrow outlook of nationalism has made us think of
separate countries far more than of the oneness of the
world and the common interests of different countries.

Glimpses of World History, Vol. II, p. 758

Nationalism is a narrowing creed, and nationalism in con-
flict with a dominating imperialism produces all manner .of
frustrations and complexes.

The Discovery of India, p. 404.

Nationalism is good in its place, but it is an unreliable friend
and an unsafe historian. It blinds us to many happenings
and sometimes distorts the truth, especially when it con-
cerns us or our country.

Glimpses of World History, Vol. II, p. 694.

THE NATIONALIST IDEAL

The nationalist ideal is deep and strong; it is not a thing of
the past with no future significance. But other ideals, more

75

based on tlie ineluctable facts of today, have risen, the inter-
national ideal and the proletarian ideal, and there must be
some kind of fusion between these various ideals if we are
to have a world equilibrium and a lessening of conflict. The
abiding appeal of nationalism to the spirit of man has to
be recognized and provided for, but its sway limited to a
narrower sphere.

The Discovery of India, p. 46.

NATIONALISM MAKES MEN CONCEITED

In every matter, be it education, science, culture, or any-
thing else, I dislike nothing so much as the narrowly nation-
alistic approach which makes us think that we have attained
the summit of wisdom and that we need not learn anything
more.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 70: from speech at the
Silver Jubilee of the Central Board of Irriga-
tion and Power, New Delhi, November 17,
1952.

NATIONALISM AND WORLD SECURITY

Lord Cecil has pointed out the dangers of an intensive
nationalism. May I say that I entirely agree with him, and,
though I stand for Indian nationalism and Indian independ-
ence, I do so on a basis of true internationalism. We in India
will gladly co-operate in a world order and even agree to
give up a measure of national sovereignty, in common with
others, in favour of a system of collective security. But that
can come only when nations associate on a basis of peace
and freedom.

There can be no world security founded on the subjection
of colonial countries or on the continuance of imperialism.
Freedom, like peace and war, is today indivisible. If the
aggressors of today have to be checked, the aggressors of
yesterday have also to be called to account. Because we
have sought to cover up past evil, though it still persists,
we have been powerless to check the new evil of today.

The Unity of India, p. 279.

76

A nation’s personalities

A nation, like an individual, has many personalities, many
approaches to life. If there is a sufficiently strong organic
bond between these different personahties, it is weU; other-
wise those personahties split up and lead to disintegration
and trouble. Normally, there is a continuous process of ad-
justment going on and some kind of an equilibrium is estab-
lished. If normal development is arrested, or sometimes if
there is rapid change which is not easily assimilated, then
conflict arises between those different personalities. In the
mind and spirit of India, below the surface of our super-
ficial conflicts and divisions, there has been this fundamen-
tal conflict due to a long period of arrested growth. A soci-
ety, if it is to be both stable and progressive, must have a
certain more or less fixed foundation of principles as well
as a dynamic outlook. Both appear to be necessary. With-
out the dynamic outlook there is stagnation and decay; with-
out some fixed basis of principle there is likely to be dis-
integration and destruction.

The Discovery of India, p. 615.

A NATION DOES NOT DIE

A nation does not die. Men and women come and go, but
the nation goes on. It has something of the eternal about
it.

Independence and After, p. 127: from address
at the Special Convocation of Lucknow Uni-
versity, January 28, 1949.

PAST KARMA PURSUES NATIONS

Since the last war, Europe has been tied up to a number
of grave problems and conflicts. If I may say so, the past
karma of Europe pursues it. We cannot easily get rid of the
curse of our past karma; it pursues our country in various
ways.

Independence and After, p. 251: from a
speech at the Indian Council of World Affairs,
New Delhi, March 22, 1949.

77

ISOLATION DANGEROUS FOR NATIONS AND
INDIVIDUALS

It is a dangerous thing to isolate oneself; dangerous both
for an individual and a nation.

Glimpses of World History, Vol. I, p. 430.

PRIDE IN one’s COUNTRY IS GOOD BUT TOO
MUCH OF IT IS BAD

If you go to other countries, you will find the people there
think that their country is the chosen country, the torch-
bearer of civilization, the most advanced country, the most
revolutionaiy country, the country with the biggest build-
ings, the country with something unique, some mission or
other. It is natural for one to like one’s own country and
one’s own people. It would be unnatural not to do so. It is
good to be a little proud of one’s own country. But it is
wrong to start imagining that we are the highest and best
in the world. The fact is that every country and every people
have admirable qualities about them; they have great
achievements to their credit, and they have also bad periods
in their history. This applies not to countries only but to
individuals also. Nobody is perfect; he has weaknesses and
failings. Nobody is thoroughly bad either. We are all mix-
tures of good and evil. But we shall try to further the good
in ourselves and in otherj.

Most of you did not probably see Gandhiji at close quar-
ters. He had amazing qualities. One of these qualities was
that he managed to draw out the good in another person.
The other person may have had plenty of evil in him. But
he somehow spotted the good and laid emphasis on that
good. The result was that the poor man had to try to be
good. He could not help it. He would feel a little ashamed
when he did something wrong.

Speeches (1953-57), pp. 473-4: from address at
the Second Inter-University Youth Festival,
New Delhi, October 23, 1955.

78

NARROWMINDEDNESS

No nation can be great whose people are narrow in thought
or in action.

Independence and After, p. 6: from a message
to the Press from New Delhi, August 15, 1947,

CONFLICT EETWEEN RACES

No individual can wholly rid himself of his racial outlook
and cultural limitation, and when there is conflict between
races and countries even an attempt at impartiality is con-
sidered a betrayal of one's own people. War, which is an
extreme example of this conflict, results in a deliberate throw-
ing overboard of all fairness and impartiality so far as the
enemy nation is concerned; the mind coarsens and becomes
closed to almost all avenues of approach except one. The
overpowering need of the moment is to justify one’s actions
and condemn and blacken those of the enemy. Truth hides
somewhere at the bottom of the deepest well and falsehood,
naked and unashamed, reigns almost supreme.

The Discovery of India, p. 839.

OBSCURANTISM IS NOT NATIONALISM

My friend, the Hon. Mr Tyagi, took exception to the cere-
monial that was observed when the President came in. He
thought that it was too English and that we should have
conches or some other ancient instrument blowing when he
came in. Whether he meant it seriously or not, I do not know;
but it does raise an interesting point for the consideration
of the House. We are anxious to have our ovwi customs and
our own ceremonials in India. When we adopt a certain
practice or ceremonial which comes from foreign countries,
I suppose, it has a certain meaning. Both in our Constitu-
tion and in our judicial system, we have very largely fol-
lowed the practice of foreign countries and more especially
that of the British Parliament. Would the Hon. Member,
who complained, like us to have armies after the model of
the Mahabharata and use weapons which were used five
hundred years ago? I say this because there is a tendency in

79

this country to support obscurantism in the name of national-
ism. We often seem to confuse the great things of the past
with its minor trappings. There is thus the danger that the
great things may suffer while the minor trappings may flour-
ish. Therefore, we must be careful in these matters. India
suffered enough in the past by being caught up in the
minor trappings. India became a slave country because she
did not keep pace with the world. Nationalism is a great
and vital force and, if we give up any part of the genius of
our people, we lose a great deal thereby; we become root-
less. At the same time, nationalism often covers a multitude
of sins and a multitude of things that are dead and gone.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 262: from speech in

Parliament, New Delhi, February 3, 1950.

80

Panchsheel

THE CONCEPT OF PANCHSHEEL

All that we have suggested and sought to bring about is
that great countries should face each other, talk to each
other and decide then problems themselves. It is not for us
to advise them what to do. We can at best remove some
obstacles which have arisen during the last few years.

India’s contribution in this direction may perhaps be put
in one word or two, Pknchsheel, and the ideas underlying it.
There is nothing new about those ideas except their appli-
cation to a particular context. And the House will notice
that ever since these ideas of peaceful coexistence were
initially mentioned and promulgated, not only have they
spread in the world and influenced more and more coun-
tries, but they have progressively acquired a greater depth
and meaning. That is, from being a word used rather loosely,
Panchsheel has begun to acquire a specific meaning and
significance in world affairs.

I think we may take some credit for spreading this con-
ception of a peaceful settlement, and above all, of non-inter-
ference. That each country should carve out its own destiny
without interfering with others is an important conception,
though there is nothing new about it. No great truths may
be new. But it is true that an idea like non-interference
requires emphasis because there has been in the past a tend-
ency for great countries to interfere with others, to bring
pressure to bear upon them, and to want these others to line
up with them. I suppose that is a nat\iral result of bigness. It
has taken place throughout history.

Speeches (1953-57), pp. 306-7: from a speech
in Lok Sabha, New Delhi, September 17, 1955.

THE FIVE PRINCIPLES OF PANCHSHEEL

It is in recognition of the right of each country to fashion

its own destiny that the Indian Government and the People’s
Government of China agreed to the five principles to govern
their relations with each other. These principles were:
Respect for each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty;
Non-aggression; Non-interference in each other’s internal
affairs; Equality and mutual benefit; and Peaceful co-exist-
ence. Subsequently these principles were accepted by Burma
and Yugo-Slavia, and the Soviet Government has also ex-
pressed its approval of them.

Speeches (1953-57), p. 303: from statement at
the Dynamo Stadium, Moscow, June 22, 1955.

PANCHSHEEL NOT NEW TO INDIA

About a month ago a huge meeting was held in Calcutta
which was a kind of public reception to the Soviet leaders
who were here. Reference was made to Panchsheel at that
meeting. I ventured to say that Panchsheel was no new idea
to the Indian mind and that it was inherent in Indian think-
ing and in Indian culture. Panchsheel ultimately is the mes-
sage of tolerance. I quoted at that mighty meeting Asoka’s
edicts and said: ‘This is the basis of Indian culture and
Panchsheel flows from it.’

Speeches (1953-57), p. 177: from speech in Lok
Sabha, New Delhi, December 21, 1955.

IDEA OF PANCHSHEEL HAS RAISED INDIA

IN world’s esteem

By thinking of Panchsheel and peaceful co-existence in this
wide, warring world, we have gained a measure of respect
and attention. We have been able to gain this respect be-
cause our thinking has been correct and based on principles
which are not opportunist and also because the broad poli-
cies we have laid down have not been very divergent from
the action we have taken; that is, there has been an approxi-
mation between our ideals and action in our foreign policy.
I do not say they coincide absolutely, but there has been an
approximation, and this has been a source of strength to
us. It is the conflict between one’s ideals and one’s actions
that leads to bad results and to frustration in the individual,

82

group or nation. Where individuals, groups or nations are
able to act according to their ideals, they achieve results.

Speeches (1953-57), p. 177: from speech in
Lok Sabha, New Delhi, December 21, 1955.

PANCHSHEEL

The conception of Panchsheel means that there may be dif-
ferent ways of progress, possibly different outlooks, but that,
broadly, the ultimate objectives may be the same. If I may
use another type of analogy, truth is not confined to one
country or one people; it has far too many aspects for any-
one to presume that he knows all, and each country and
each people, if they are true to themselves, have to find out
their path for themselves, through trial and error, through
suffering and experience. Only then do they grow. If they
merely copy others, the result is likely to be that they will
not grow. And even the copy may be completely good, it
will be something undertaken by them without a normal
growth of the mind which really makes it an organic part of
themselves.

Our development in the past thirty years or so has been
under Mahatma Gandhi. Apart from what he did for us or
did not do, the development of this country under his lead-
ership was organic. It was something which fitted in with
the spirit and thinking of India. Yet it was not isolated from
the modem world, and we fitted in with the modem world.
This process of adaptation will go on. It is something which
grows out of the mind and spirit of India, though it is affec-
ted by our learning many things from outside. Likewise this
idea of Panchsheel lays down the very important trath that
each people must ultimately fend for itself. I am not think-
ing in terms of mihtary fending, but in terms of striving in-
tellectually, morally, spiritually, and in terms of opening out
all our windows to ideas from others, and learning from the
experience of others. Each country should look upon such
an endeavour on the part of the other with sympathy and
friendly understanding and without any interference or im-
position.

Speeches (1953-57), pp. 307-8: from speech in
Lok Sabha, New Delhi, September 17, 195.5.

83

ffil SlNStJNe cbrJPEiifiNcE

The Bandung Conference has been a historic event. If it only
met, the meeting itself would have been a great achievement,
as it would have represented the emergence of a new Asia
and Africa, of new nations who are on the march towards the
fulfilment of their independence and of their sense of their
role in the world. Bandung proclaimed the political emerg-
ence in world aflEairs of over half the world’s population. It
presented no unfriendly challenge or hostility to anyone but
proclaimed a new and rich contribution. Happily that con-
tribution is not by way of threat or force or the creation
of new power blocs. Bandung proclaimed to the world the
capacity of the new nations of Asia and Africa for practical
idealism, for we conducted our business in a short time and
reached agreements of practical value, not quite usual with
international conferences. We did not permit oin: sense of
unity or our success to drive us into isolation and egocen-
tricity. Each major decision of the conference happily refers
to the United Nations and to world problems and ideals. We
believe that from Bandung our great organization, the
United Nations, has derived strength. This means in turn
that Asia and Africa must play an increasing role in the
conduct and the destiny of the world organization. ... To
those stiU dependent, but are struggling for freedom, Ban-
dung presented hope to sustain them in their courageous
fight and in their struggle for freedom and justice.

While the achievements and the significance of the meet-
ing at Bandung have been great and epoch-making, it would
be a mis-reading of history to regard Bandung as though it
was an isolated occurrence and not part of a great move-
ment of human history. It is this latter that is the more
correct and historical view to take.

Speeches (1953-57), pp. 300-1: from speech m

Lok Sabha, New Delhi, April 30, 1955.

84

One World

ONE WORLD

We have arrived at a stage in human aflEahs when the ideal
of One World and some kind of World Federation seems
to be essential, though there are many dangers and obstacles
in the way. We should work for that ideal and not for any
grouping which comes in the way of this larger world group.
We, therefore, support the United Nations structure which
is painfully emerging from its infancy. But in order to have
One World, we must also, in Asia, think of the countries of
Asia co-operating together for that larger ideal.

Independence and After, p. 299: from speech
inaugurating the Asian Conference at New
Delhi, March 23, 1947,

India’s ideal is the realization of

ONE WORLD

So it is not a question of our (India) remaining isolated or
cut oflE from the rest of the world. We do not wish to be
isolated. We wish to have the closest contacts, because we
do from the beginning firmly believe in the world coming
closer together and ultimately realizing the ideal of what is
now being called One World.

Independence and After, p, 257: from speech
at the Indian Council of World Affairs, New
Delhi, March 22, 1949.

A WORLD ORDER SHOULD BE SET UP

I mentioned to you the growing solidarity of the various
peoples, their feeling of international fellowship and com-
radeship because of this crisis. The growth of this inter-
national fellowship would be jeopardized by the exclusion of
nations who want to be friendly. ... So if you look at the

85

world as it is today, you may find countries who for some
reason or another will not join a world order, but that is no
reason why we should not start to build up that world order,
and not limit it to a certain number of nations.

The Unity of India, p. 272.

PHILOSOPHY OF FORCE IS A FAILURE

What then are we to do? What shall we aim at and what
road shall we travel by? It is of the foremost importance
that we should not lose ourselves in the passion and preju-
dice of the moment. If we are to aim high, we should adhere
to the high principles which have always formed the back-
ground of Indian thought from the days of the Buddha to
our own day when Gandhiji showed us the path to right
, action. Greatness comes from vision, the tolerance of the
spirit, compassion and an even temper which is not ruffled
by iU fortune or good fortune. It is not through hatred and
violence or internal discord that we make real progress.
As in the world today, so also in our own country, the
philosophy of force can no longer pay and our progress must
be based on peaceful co-operation and tolerance of each
other.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 103: from a broadcast
from All India Radio, Delhi, December 31,
1952.

MOCKERY OF INTERNATIONAL POLITICS

Nothing proves the unreality and mockery of international
politics today so much as the failure of all attempts at dis-
armament Everybody talks of peace and yet prepares for
war. The Kellog-Briand Pact outlaws war, but who remem-
bers it now or cares for it?

Glimpses of World History, Vol. II, p. 1271.

A WORLD COMMONWEALTH OR — ?

Another era of imperialism, or an age of international co-
operation, or world commonwealth, which is it going to be
in the future? The scales incline towards the former and

86

the old arguments are repeated but not with the old can-
dour. The moral urges of mankind and its sacrifices are used
for base ends, and rulers exploit the goodness and nobility
of man for evil purposes and take advantage of the
fears, hatreds and false ambitions of the people. They used
to be more frank about empire in the old days. Speaking of
the Athenian Empire, Thucydides wrote: “We make no fine
profession of having a right to our empire because we over-
threw the Barbarian single-handed, or because w6 risked
our existence for the sake of our dependents and of civiliza-
taion. States, like men, cannot be blamed for providing for
their proper safety. If we are now here in Sicily, it is in the
interest of our own security. ... It is Fear that forces us to
cling to our Empire in Greece, and it is Fear that drives us
hither, with the help of our friends, to order matters in
Sicily.’ And again when he referred to the tribute of the
Athenian colonies: Tt may seem wickedness to have won
it; but it is certainly folly to let it go.’

The Discovery of India, p. 670.

ALTERNATIVE TO WORLD CO-OPERATION

The alternative to world co-operation is world disaster.

Independence and After, p. 123: from speech
at the Annual Convocation of the Muslim Uni-
versity, Aligarh, January 24, 1948.

THE WORLD TENDS TO BECOME ONE IN
PEACE AND WAR

We might note that the world progressively tends to be-
come one — one in peace and it is likely to be one, in a sense
of war.

Independence and After, p. 232: from speech
in the Constituent Assembly, New Delhi,
March 8, 1949.

GROWTH OF INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM OF
SUPREME IMPORTANCE

If you look at the political field or the economic field or
any other field, you find two slightly contradictory tenden-

87

cies. One is the tendency to centralize. Now, centralization is
inevitable in the modem world, whether it is government
or of any other kind. It may give you better results, it may
develop better efficiency and all the rest of it, although a
stage arrives in the process of centralization when perhaps
efficiency does not grow but lessens. The other tendency is,
sTiaTI I say, the growth of individual, human freedom. Un-
doubtedly, the greater the centralization, the less the indi-
vidual freedom, even though the results obtained might be
better. Some people prefer the processes of decentralization
because they allow the individual to grow more. On the
other hand, there are certain very important things in mod-
em life which cannot be decentralized if you want any pro-
gress at all. Well, you have got to balance all these things But
die main thing is that the growth of the individual human
being or group cannot be imposed. A human being grows and
ought to grow like a flower or a plant. You cannot pull it
out; you can water it, you can help it grow; you can give it
good soil; you can put it in the fresh or in the sim. But it
has to grow itself; you cannot make it grow by force. Many
of our people sometimes think that you could make some-
thing grow by some decree from above but you cannot.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 72: from speech at the
Silver Jubilee Celebrations of the Central
Board of Irrigation and Power, New Delhi,
November 17, 1952.

88

The United Nations Organization

THE CHARTER OF THE UNITED NATIONS A
NOBLE DOCUMENT

We have associated ourselves with the United Nations. Hiis
association does not deprive us of our independence. Of
course, it limits our freedom in the sense in which it limits
the freedom of every member country. That some limit
should be placed on your field of action is the natural con-
sequence of joining an organization of that nature. Our
membership of the United Nations is a far greater limitation
than our association with the Commonwealth of Nations. In
fact, the latter is almost an airy association, because it is not
written down on paper or in any constitution or anywhere
else; so long as we wish to be there, we can remain there.

To come back to the United Nations, we associated our-
selves with the United Nations because we felt that some
such world organization was very essential. The League of
Nations had failed. The UNO seemed to be a similar attempt
under wider and perhaps better auspices and so we joined
it. I shall think that the Charter of the United Nations is a
very fine and noble document.

Speeches (1949-53), pp. 222-3: from speech in
Parliament, New Delhi, June 12, 1952.

THE UNITED NATIONS SERVES AN
ESSENTIAL PURPOSE

In spite of its faults, the United Nations serves an essential
purpose. If it did not exist today, undoubtedly, all the coun-
tries would come together to build up something like it
again. I do not want that to happen. I attach the greatest
importance to the United Nations but I must repeat that
the United Nations has swerved from its original moorings
and gradually become a protector of colonialism in an in-
direct way. This is a dangerous deviation. Instead of looking

89

upon it as a great organization for peace, some of its mem-
bers have gradually begun to think of it as an organization
through which war can be waged.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 223: from speech in
Parliament, New Delhi, June 12, 1952.

FAITH IN UNO TO SOLVE WORLD PROBLEMS

I have no doubt that this Assembly is going to solve our
problems. . . . We do not think that the problems of the
world or of India can be solved by thinking in terms of
aggression or war or violence. We are frail mortals and we
caimot always live up to the teaching of the great man who
led our nation to freedom. But that lesson has sunk deep
into our souls and, so long as we remember it, I am sure we
shall be on the right path. And if I may venture to suggest
this to the General Assembly, I think that if the essentials
of that lesson are kept in mind, perhaps our approach to
the problems of today will be different; perhaps the con-
flicts that always hang over us will appear a little less deep
than they are and actually will gradually fade away . . .

No one can be optimistic enough to think that all prob-
lems will fade away simply if we feel good; that is not what
I mean to say. The problems are difficult and intricate and
they will take a lot of solving. But I do feel that our approach
to those problems should not be the approach of anger and
passion and fear. Then, perhaps, the problems will gradu-
ally appear in a different light. Perhaps, we shall under-
stand the other side better; perhaps, the fear of one another
will grow less in our minds, and then a solution may come.

Independence and After, pp. 322-4: from
address to the United Nations General
Assembly, Paris, November 3, 1948.

THE UNITED NATIONS THE BASIS OF A
WORLD GOVERNMENT

The United Nations, in spite of its failmgs and weaknesses,
is something that is good. It should be encouraged and sup-
ported in every way, and should be allowed to develop into

. 90

some kind of wodd government or world order.

Independence and After, p. 214: from speech
in Constituent Assembly, New Delhi, March
8, 1948.

THE UNITED NATIONS ORGANIZATION

This great organization built for peace is itself engaged
in sponsoring war today. I am not blaming anybody but
only trying to analyse the situation as objectively as I can.
Is it possible that the world has not grown up and is incap-
able of having an international organization for peace? I do
not know. People talk about a united world; many wise,
intelligent and ardent people advocate the ideal of world
federalism but we again and again prove ourselves unable
to give effect to it. Is it possible for countries entirely differ-
ent from one another in their political, economic and other
policies to co-operate or must they remain apart? There was
a time, centuries ago, when it did not much matter whether
they did or not because there was no natural contact. Today,
there is continuous contact, which can be friendly or hostile.
I find myself wondering again and again whether an inter-
national organization, containing within its core countries
with entirely different aims, can exist. I feel sure it can and,
what is more, see no reason why it should not function effici-
ently. After all when the United Nations was started coun-
tries like the United States of America and the U.S.S.R. did
co-operate and come together before they drifted apart. For
my part, I do not see why they should not be able to func-
tion together in an organization, provided, of course, they
did not interfere with one another and so long as each was
free to carry on the pohcy it chose for itself.

Speeches (1949-53), pp. 246-7: from speech in
Parliament, New Delhi, February 18, 1953.

INDIA CONTINUES IN THE UNO DESPITE
D I S A.P POINTMENTS

We respect the United Nations and are all for a world organ-
ization dealing with such matters. It is right that we should
remain a member of the United Nations, even though

91

things do not always happen according to our wishes. We
have made it perfectly clear that we are not willing to jeop-
ardize the interests of the people of Kashmir or those of our
own people. Nobody will be allowed to impose anything dis-
honom'able upon us. We have decided to await the verdict
of the Security Council, however long it may be in coming.
The way of peace is always the better and, in the longer
run, the shorter way. The way of war is no way at all, for
it solves nothing.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 207: from speech in
Parliament, New Delhi, February 12, 1952.

GREATER CONSERVATISM APPARENT IN
THE UNO

As the war has developed and the danger of a possible
victory of the Fascist Powers has receded, there has been
a progressive hardening and a greater conservatism in the
leaders of the United Nations. The Four Freedoms and the
Atlantic Charter, vague as they were and limited in scope,
have faded into the background, and the future has been
envisaged more and more as a retention of the past. The
struggle has taken a purely military shape, of physical force
against force, and has ceased to be an attack on the philos-
ophy of the Nazis and the Fascists.

The Discovery of India, p. 655.

DISAPPEARANCE OF UNO A WORLD
TRAGEDY

I have ventured, in all humility, sometimes to criticize those
developments at the United Nations which seemed to me to
be out of keeping with its Charter and its past record and
professions. Nevertheless, I have believed and I do believe
that the United Nations, in spite of its many faults, in spite
of its having deviated from its aims somewhat, is, neverthe-
less, a basic and fundamental thing in the structure of the
world today. Not to have it or to do away with it would be
a tragedy for the world. Therefore, I do not wish this coun-
try of ours to do anything which weakens the gradual devel-
opment of some kind of a world structure. It may be that

92

the real world structure will not come in our lifetime but
unless that world structure comes, there is no hope for this
world, because the only alternative is world conflict on a
prodigious and tremendous scale. Therefore, it would be
wrong for us to do anything that weakens the beginnings
of a world structure, even though we may disagi-ee with this
particular organization and even though we may sometimes
criticize it, as we have done.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 349: from speech in
Parliament, New Delhi, August 7, 1952.

WITHDRAWAL FROM THE UNO

Some Honourable Members have suggested, in a fit of
frustration, that we should withdraw from the United
Nations. That, if I may say so, with all respect, is immaturity.
One cannot run away like this from a problem. The United
Nations, in spite of all its failings — and there are many — ^is
a great world organization. It does contain within it the
seeds of hope and peace, and it would be rather perverse
for any country to try to destroy this structure because it is
not to its entire Hking. If a country does that, I have no
doubt that it is that country which will sufFer more than the
organization. We cannot remain isolated in the world, cut
off from everything and living a life of our own in our
limited sphere. Most of us in India are so situated as to be
normally isolated in our minds, in our social habits like
eating, drinking and marrying. We isolate ourselves in
castes, with the result that it is a unique Indian habit which
does not prevail anywhere else in the world. We live in
compartments, and therefore, perhaps, we easily think in
terms of isolation as a country too. But the fact is that isola-
tion in the past has weakened us very greatly and left us
rather in the lurch when the world had advanced in terms
of science or other developments. We cannot be isolated; in
fact, no country can be. Therefore, to talk of getting out of
the United Nations or of otherwise keeping apart from all
these problems is not to take cognizance of the realities of
the situation.

Speeches (1953-57), pp. 243-4: from speech in
Parliament, New Delhi, September 17, 1953.

93

UNESCO

Man does not live by politics alone, nor, indeed, vii'holly By
economics. And so UNESCO came into being to represent
something that was vital to human existence and progress.
Even as the United Nations General Assembly represented
the political will of the world community, UNESCO tried
to represent the finer and the deeper sides of human life,
and, indeed, might be said to represent the conscience of
the world community . . .

I have called this great assembly the conscience of the
world community. The problems we have to face, many and
complicated as they are, will never be solved except on the
basis of good morals and conscience. It is for this reason that
I beg of you, distinguished delegates from the nations of the
world, to pay heed to this collapse of conscience and good
morals that we see around us, for unless we do so our fine
ideals and the good work you have done will be shattered
into nothingness.

May I also point out to you that a world organization like
this cannot be properly constituted or function adequately
if a large section of the world remains umepresented here?
I hope that three countries which have recently attained
their independence — ^the Sudan, Tunisia and Morocco — ^will
find a place soon in this organization to share the burdens
and responsibilities of its labours. But I would specially
refer to the People’s Government of China and the six hun-
dred million people who live in that great country who have
so far not been represented here . . .

Our coimtry is a large one and our population is consid-
erable. But we have no desire to interfere with any other
country. We have no hatreds and we have been nurtured
under the inspiring guidance of our great leader, Mahatma
Gandhi, in the ways of peace. We want to be friends with
all the world. We know our failings and seek to overcome
them, so that we might be of service to our own people and
to the world.

Speeches (1953-57), pp. 500, 503; from speech
at the inauguration of the Tenth Annual
Session of UNESCO, New Delhi, November
5, 1956.

94

THE UNO A POWER FOR PEACE

I have no doubt that the United Nations Organization —
with all its weaknesses in enforcing decisions — ^has been a
power for peace in the world; and it may grow that way.
That depends really on widespread public opinion.

Conversations with Mr. Nehru, p. 87.

INDIA NOT AFRAID OF THE FUTURE

I am not afraid of the future. I have no fear in my mind,
and I have no fear, even though India, from a military point
of view, is of no great consequence. I am not afraid of the
bigness of great Powers, and their armies, their fleets and
their atom bombs. That is the lesson which my Master
taught me. We stood as an unarmed people against a great
country and a powerful empire. We were supported and
strengthened, because thi'oughout all this period we decided
not to submit to evil, and I think that is the lesson which
I have before me and which is before us today. I do not
know if it is possible to apply this to the problems which
face the world today. It is a terrible problem, but I think
if we banish fear, if we have confidence, even though we
may take risks of trust rather than risk violent language,
violent actions and m the end war, I think those risks are
worth taking.

Independence and After, p. 322: from Address
to the United Nations General Assembly at
Paris, on November 3, 1948.

APARTHEID AND THE UNO

Apartheid is opposed to the whole spirit of modem thought,
opposed to the U.N. Charter and contrary to the United
Nations. The effect of racial relations is oliviously a prob-
lem that fills people’s minds in the Commonwealth Confer-
ence and outside. Apart from the morality of it, it is a
danger to world peace; also from that point of view it has
to be considered.

The Hindu, May 3, 1960: from press interview
to world correspondents at India House,
London, during the Commonwealth Premiers’
Conference.

95

A Commonwealth of Nations

A COMMONWEALTH OF NATIONS

Now we are often told that instead of the imperialist con-
ception, we should develop the conception of the common-
wealth of nations. This is a phrase which appeals to one,
because we all want a commonwealth of nations in this
world. But if we think in terms of an empire gradually being
transformed into a commonwealth, almost retaining its own
structure economically and politically, then it seems to me
that we are likely to delude ourselves very greatly. We can-
not have a real commonwealth of nations bom of empire. It
must have different parents.

The Unity of India, p. 271.

INDIA JOINS THE BRITISH COMMONWEALTH

I want to tell you that I have not the least doubt in my
mind that I have adhered in letter and in spirit to every
pledge that I, in common with millions of my countrymen,
have taken in regard to the independence of India during
the past twenty years and more. I am convinced that far
from injuring the honour or interest of India, the action I
took in London has kept that honour bright and shining and
enhanced her position in the world.

I have naturally looked to the interests of India, for that
is my first duty. I have always conceived that duty in terms
of the larger good of the world. That is the lesson that our
Master taught us and he told us also to pursue the ways of
peace and of friendship with others, always maintaining the
freedom and dignity of India. The world is full of strife
today and disaster looms on the horizon. In men’s hearts
there is hatred and fear and suspicion which cloud their
vision. Every step, therefore, which leads to a lessening of
this tension in the world, should be a welcome step. I think
it is a good augury for the future that the old conflict be-

96

tween India and England should be resolved in this friendly
way which is honourable to both countries. There are too
many disruptive forces in the world for us to throw our
weight in favour of further disruption and any opportunity
that offers itself to heal old wounds and to further the cause
of co-operation should be welcomed.

It has been India’s privilege in the past to be a meeting
place for many cultures. It may be her privilege in the
present anft the future to be a bridge to join warring fac-
tions and to help in maintaining the most urgent thing of
today and the future — ^the peace of the world. It is in the
belief that India could more effectively pursue this policy
of encouraging peace and freedom and of lessening the bitter
hatreds and tensions in the world, that I willingly agreed
to the London agreement. I associated myself with the
decisions taken in London at the Prime Ministers’ meeting
in the full belief that they were the right decisions for our
country and for the world.

Independence and After, pp. 266-7: from a
talk broadcast from New Delhi, May 10, 1949.

INDIA REMAINS IN THE COMMONWEALTH
FOR INFLUENCING ITS POLICIES

Our association with the Commonwealth is remarkable in
that it does not bind us down in any way whatsoever and,
if I may repeat, it has not done so during the last two or
three years either. It has given us certain advantages with-
out our having to accept any liabilities in return. I know some
Honourable Members do not like the idea of our being in
the Commonwealth. Their dislike is regrettable and I can-
not help it, since we are concerned only with tiiie advantages
our country gains. Now, Ceylon and South Africa are both
members of the Commonwealth and we may well be asked
why we put up with what is happening in those cormtries.
If any Honourable members want us to withdraw from the
Commonwealth on principle, my answer would be that
what they object to is precisely the reason why we should
remain iu the Commonwealth. I shall explain what I mean.
By doing so, we have better chances of being able to influ-
ence the larger policies of the Commonwealth than we other-

97

G

wise would. Being in the Commonwealth means a meeting
once or twice a year and occasional consultations and ref-
erences. Surely, that is not too great a price to pay for the
advantages we get. If the Commonwealth had the right to
interfere with any constituent country, then I should cer-
tainly cease to be m the Commonwealth. If any Honourable
members think that the nations of the Commonwealth have
common war or defence policies, allow me to assure them
that they are completely mistaken. We have never discussed
defence policies in the Commonwealth, either jointly or
separately.

Speeches (1949-53), pp. 219-20: from speech

in Parliament, New Delhi, June 12, 1952.

CONTINUANCE IN THE COMMONWEALTH IS

FOR India’s good

We join the Commonwealth, obviously because we think it
is beneficial to us and to certain causes in the world that we
wish to advance. The other countries of the Commonwealth
want us to remain, because they think it is beneficial to
them. It is mutually understood that it is to the advantage
of the nations in the Commonwealth and therefore they
join. At the same time, it is made perfectly clear that each
country is completely free to go its way; it may be that
they may go, sometimes go so far as to break away from
the Commonwealth. In the world today where there are
so many disruptive forces at work, where we are often on
the verge of war, I think it is not a safe thing to encourage
the breaking up of any association that one has. Break up
the evil part of it; break up anything that may come in the
way of your growth, because nobody dare agree to any-
thing which comes in the way of a nation’s growth. Other-
wise, apart from breaking the evil parts of the association,
it is better to keep a co-operative association going which
may do good in this world rather than break it.

Independence and After, pp. 275-6: from
speech in the Constituent Assembly, New
Delhi, May 16, 1949.

98

1 HAVE RESPECT FOR ENGLAND AND HER

PEOPLE

I hope this House has respect for the way England has
tackled her problems since the war and the courage with
which she has faced them. In many places, England cer-
tainly does things with which neither I nor this House can
agree but that is beside the point. Let us see things in their
historical perspective. As far as power is concerned, Britain
is no longer what she used to be before the last war. Today,
there are, for good or ill, other and greater Powers. I repeat
that since the war years I have nurtured considerable respect
for England, because I like brave people fighting against
odds and the British people have fought against heavy odds.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 214: from speech in
Parliament, New Delhi, June 12, 1952.

THE FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN INDIA AND
ENGLAND

You will remember the magnificent example of which both
England and India have reason to be proud. Both of us, in
spite of long continued conflict, approached our problems
with this basic temper of peace and we not only resolved
them but produced, at the same time, abiding understand-
ing and friendship. That is a great example which we might
well bear in mind whenever any other crisis in the relations
of nations confronts us. That is the only civilized approach
to problems and leaves no ill-will or bitterness behind.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 134: from a broadcast
from B.B.C., London, January 12, 1951.

INDIA RETAINS BRITISH INSTITUTIONS

The House knows that inevitably during the last century
and more all kinds of contacts have arisen between England
and this country (India); many of them were bad and we
have struggled throughout our lives to put an end to them.
Many of them were not so bad, many of them may be good
and many of them, irrespective of what they are, good or
bad, are there. Here I am the patent example of these

99

contacts, speaking in this Honourable House in the English
language. No doubt we are going to change that language
for our use, but the fact remains Qiat I am doing so and the
fact remains that most other members who will speak will
also do so. The fact remains that we are functioning here
under certain rules and regulations for which the model
has been the British Constitution. Those laws which exist
today have been largely forged by them. Gradually, the
laws which are good we will keep and those that are bad we
will throw away. Any marked change in this without some-
thing to follow creates a hiatus which may be harmful.
Largely our educational apparatus has been influenced.
Largely our military apparatus has been influenced by these
considerations and we have grown up naturally as something
rather like the British Army. I am placing before the House
certain entirely practical considerations. If we break away
completely, the result is that without making sufficient pro-
vision for carrying on in a difEerent way, we have a period
of gap. Of course, if we have to pay a price, we may choose
to do so. If we do not want to pay the price, we should not
pay it and face the consequences.

Independence and After, pp. 276-7: from
speech in the Constituent Assembly, New
Delhi, May 16, 1949.

COMMONWEALTH RELATIONSHIP HAS NOT
INFLUENCED OUR POLICY

The Commonwealth relationship has not come in our way
in the sHghtest. We have often differed from the policies and
practice of the other Commonwealth countries. We have dis-
cussed with them and differed. Only recently — and this mat-
ter, no doubt, will have larger consequences — there was the
pact which is called the Baghdad Pact, which, we think, is
a most unfortunate and deplorable action on the part of the
countries who have joined it, deplorable not from our point
of view, but from the point of view of peace and security.
Though such action is taken, it has not affected our policy.
On the other hand, I do think that our association with the
Commonwealth has been of great help to the larger cause of

100

peace and co-operation.

Speeches (1953-57), p. 312: from speech in
Lok Sabha, New Delhi, December 5, 1955.

RELATION BETWEEN INDIA AND ENGLAND
INDEFINABLE

The maimer of relationship which was evolved between
India and England is of a diflFerent kind and of a different
texture. Because we had known each otlier both in conflict
and in co-operation, and had settled our conflicts in a civil-
ized, human way, we have survived many things, many dif-
ferences of opinion. That is because we fundamentally
wished for and developed the mood to co-operate as far as
possible and to co-operate even if we differed. It is a little
difficult to define that relationship because it is indefinable,
and it is often the indefinable things that are the most im-
portant and the most precious of all.

Speeches (1953-57), p. 479: from speech at
Banquet for the Earl and Countess Mount-
batten, New Delhi, March 15, 1956.

THE COMMONWEALTH MAKES CO-EXISTENCE

POSSIBLE

Even more important than the setting up of some institu-
tions which functioned in a parliamentary way is the con-
tent of those institutions. The Commonwealth, I hope, repre-
sents not only those democratic institutions but in a con-
siderable measure the content of democracy.

We have to face tremendous strains all the time. In the
past we have faced them and we have survived them as a
Commonwealth. We may have to face them in the future
because the world is full of strain and trouble and conflict,
accompanied by fear and apprehension and it is not an easy
matter to maintain the temper of democracy. Democracy,
in other words, is peaceful co-existence not only between
those who are like each other but also between those who
are unlike each other. It is easy to co-exist when you are
like each other. It involves no problems, no effort. But when
you differ in opinion, in ways of life, even in objectives, and

101

yet forbear and try to understand the other, that is peaceful
co-existence.

And what strikes me about the Commonwealth is not so
much the points of likeness which are many, of course, but
rather the points of difference which have not been allowed
to come in the way of our meeting, conferring, consulting
and co-operating with each other in a large measure. And if
that is good for the Commonwealth, it should be good for
others also in the larger sphere in the world, other countries
where there are so many differences and which find it diffi-
cult to reconcile with each other.

The Hindu, December 3, 1959; from speech at
the Commonwealth Parliamentary Confer-
ence, New Delhi.

102

Fascism and Nazism

I HAVE ALWAYS CONDEMNED FASCISM AND

NAZISM

There are few persons in India, I suppose, whether they
are Indians or Englishmen, who have for years past so con-
sistently raised their voices against Fascism and Nazism as
I have done. My whole nature rebelled against them.

The Unify of India, p. 397.

FASCISM AND NAZISM KILLED THE SPIKIT

We have recently passed through a great world war. That
war has not brought peace and freedom, but it should teach
us many lessons. It brought the downfall of what had been
called Fascism and Nazism. Both of these creeds were
narrow and overbearing and based on hatred and violence.
I watched their growth in their respective coxmtries as well
as elsewhere. They brought a certain prestige to their people
for a while, but they also killed the spirit and destroyed all
values and standards of thought and behaviour. They ended
by ruining the nations they sought to exalt.

Independence and After, pp. 116-17: from
speech at the Special Convocation of the Alla-
habad University, December 13, 1947.

FASCISM MORE DANGEROUS THAN
IMPERIALISM

Striving for national freedom, we have inevitably become
anti-imperialists and have resisted not only foreign domin-
ation in India but imperialism itself. We saw in fascism a
development of and a more dangerous form of imperialism,
and we condemned it. We looked upon the two as twin
brothers which crushed freedom and prevented peace and
progress,

The Unity of India, pp. 294-5,

loa

FASCISM ENCOURAGED BY IMPERIALISM

Fascism crushed all progressive elements and set up new
standards in cruelty and inhumanity. It gloried in brutahty
and openly aimed at war. Imperialist Powers talks in temas
of democracy but aided and abetted fascism and helped it
to grow. International morahty decayed, all idea of collec-
tive action for peace was given up, and an unabashed gang-
sterism among nations grew up and was tolerated. Yet it was
clear that only by collective action could the aggressor be
stayed and peace maintained. A surrender to violence and
aggression was no basis for peace, for the aggression and
blackmail grew by every surrender and brought world war
ever nearer. It was not difficult for this aggression to be
checked and peace ensured if those Powers who believed in
peace acted together, for their strength was far greater than
that of the Fascist aggressor. But many of those very Powers
who talked of peace and democracy were imperialist and
they sympathized with fascism and encouraged it.

The Unity of India, p. 295.

THE NAZI THEORY OF THE HERRONVOLK

Since Hitler emerged from obscurity and became the
Fuehrer of Germany, we have heard a great deal about
racialism and the Nazi theory of the Herrenvolk. That doc-
trine has been condemned and is today condemned by the
leaders of the United Nations. Biologists tells us that racial-
ism is a myth and there is no such thing as a master race.
But we in India have known racialism in all its forms ever
since the commencement of British rule. The whole ideol-
ogy of this rule was that of the Herrenvolk and the Master
race, and the structure of government was based on it;
indeed the idea of a master race is inherent in imperialism.
There was no subterfuge about it; it was proclaimed in un-
ambiguous language by those in authority. More powerful
than words was the practice that accompanied them, and
generation after generation and year after year, India as a
nation and Indians as individuals were subjected to insult,
humiliation, and contemptuous treatment. The English were
an Imperial race, we were told, with the God-given right to
govern us and keep us in subjection; if we protested we

104

were reminded of the ‘tiger qualities of an imperial race’.

The Discovery of India, pp. 386-7.

FACISM AND INDIA

Our problems fill our minds. Yet the problem of problems
today, overshadowing all else, is the growth and triumph
of gangsterism in international affairs. The lights go out in
Europe and elsewhere, the shadows increase, and in the
darkness freedom is butchered and brutal violence reigns.
Tragedy envelopes us, heart-breaking tragedy, as we see the
death of nation after nation, the vast suffering and misery
of millions of people crushed by barbarian feet. ‘Brother-
hood’, ‘Sisterhood’ are bastard creeds, says Signor Mussolini;
only the sword counts with him, the sword that kills free-
dom and democracy and puts an end to the culture and
civilization of ages. Spain of the Republic and of freedom is
no more, only the bright and imperishable memory of her
glorious struggle remains, Czecho-Slovakia used to be on the
map of Europe; it is no more, and Herr Hitler’s minions
trample on her brave children, betrayed so shamefully by
England and France? From day to day we await in suspense
what this dictator or that says; anxiously we wonder what
the next aggression will be.

How does all this affect India? Dare we ignore these tre-
mendous happenings in Europe? India’s freedom will not be
worth many days’ purchase if Fascism and Nazism domin-
ate the world. Only a union of freedom-loving peoples and
their mutual co-operation can avert the common peril. For
that union India must stand.

But let us not forget recent history. It is not Hitler or
Mussolini who has created the present crisis in Europe. Ulti-
mately it is the policy of the British government, supported
by the French government. There is a great deal of talk of
the democracies defending freedom against the onslaughts
of Fascism. But it is these very so-caUed democracies of
Western Europe that have helped and encouraged Fascism
and Nazism and done to death the Spanish Republic and
Czecho-Slovakia.

The Unity of India, pp. 148-49.
105

A spirit of adventure is of course a very desirable thing in an
individual or a nation. But in a political contest the word
has a certain meaning, not by any means dishonourable to
the person concerned. I did not at all like this adventurist
tendency and considered it harmful to our cause. The asso-
ciation of vague Leftist slogans with no clear Leftist ideol-
ogy or principles has in recent years been much in evidence
in Europe. It has led to Fascist development and a straying
away of large sections of the public. The possibility of such
a thing happening in India possessed my mind and dis-
turbed me.

A Bunch of Old Letters, p. 347: from letter to
Subhas Chandra Bose, dated April 3, 1939.

INDIA COULD NOT TOLERATE THE RACIAL
VIEWS OF THE NAZIS

We, of all people, could not tolerate the racial views and
racial oppression of the Nazis. The horror that enveloped
Holland and Belgium, the supreme tragedy of France,
moved us. The imminent peril of England made us feel
that we should not add to her difficulties and embarrass-
ments. Though England’s ruling classes may have treated us
badly and her imperialism may have crushed us, we had no
ill-will for her people, who were bravely facing peril and
extreme danger. We tried hard to find a way out, honourable
and advantageous to both India and England.

The Unify of India, pp. 377-8.

RACIALISM

Racialism is an evil and has to be fought.

Independence and After, p. 288: from speech
in the Constituent Assembly, New Delhi, May
17, 1949.

MY VISIT TO BARCELONA

My visit to Europe last year coincided with a period of in-
tense crisis in the international sphere, and I put myself
psychologically in tune with this by going straight to Barce-

106

Iona, that ‘flower of the fair cities of the world’, as Cervantes
called it. Alas, that this flower should be crushed today and
enemy hands should hold this ancient home of liberty,
which struggled for freedom even in the days of Ferdinand
and Isabella! But when I visited this gracious city it was
still the home of the unconquerable spirit of man which
knows no defeat and reckons death and disaster as of little
account in freedom’s cause. Nightly I saw the bombs fall
from the air, raining death and destruction on the populace.
I saw the himgry crowds in the streets, the plight of the
refugees; I visited the armies at the front and those brave
young men of the International Brigade, so many of whom
rest for ever in the soil of Spain. I came back full of the
tragedy of Spain, which was being strangled not so much
by enemies, but by those who called themselves the friends
of democracy.

The Unity of India, pp. 113-14.

107

Art

ART

Art is a faithful mirror to the life and civilization of a period.

Glimpses of World History, Vol. II, p. 764.

Can you imagine any good life which does not have an
artistic and an aesthetic element in it, and a moral element
in it?

Independence and After, p. 401: from a com-
memorative speech on Sarojini Naidu deliv-
ered at the Constituent Assembly, New Delhi,
on March 3, 1949.

I know nothing about art, eastern or western, and am not
competent to say anything about it. I react to it as any un-
tutored layman might do. Some painting or building or
sculpture fills me with delight, or moves and makes me feel
a strange emotion; or it just pleases me a little; or it does
not affect me at all and I pass it by almost u n noticed; or it
repels me. I cannot explain these reactions or speak learn-
edly about the merits or de-merits of works of art. The
Buddha statue at Anuradhapura in Ceylon moved me greatly
and a picture of it has been my companion for many years.
On the other hand some famous temples in South India,
heavy with carving and detail, distab me and fill me with
unease.

The Discovery of India, p. 241.

How can beauty and art flourish in a country which is not
free? They wither away in the darkness of subjection and
restraint.

Glimpses of World History, Vol. I, p. 180.

Art and literature often give greater insight into a nation’s

108

soul than the superficial activities of the multitude.

Glimpses of World History, Vol. II, p. 807.

Art galleries and museums in a great city are like vmidows
which look out on the broader, richer and deeper things of
life.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 390: from speech at the
inauguration of die National Art Treasures
Fund, New Delhi, February 23, 1952.

Art does not, or should not, know national boundaries.

Glimpses of World History, Vol. II, p. 774.

THE AESTHETIC LIFE TODAY

It is a very great pity that we in the cities have drifted so
far away from the aesthetic side of life. We still have a good
many folk songs and dances when we go to the villages,
because modem civilization has more or less left them un-
touched. The progress of modem civihzation in India in-
volves both good things and bad. One of tlie things we have
lost is the spirit of song and dance and the capacity for
enjoyment and this is what the tribal people so abundantly
have. We seem to pay too much attention to the cinema; it
is undoubtedly an excellent medium for many good things
but unfortunately it has not proved to be particularly inspir-
ing. We must imbibe something of the spirit of the tribal
foDc instead of damping it with our long faces and black
gowns.

Speeches (1949-53), pp. 43-4: from the inaug-
ural speech at the Scheduled Tribes and
Scheduled Areas Conference, New Delhi,
June 7, 1952.

ARTISTRY IS NOT EXPENSIVE

A touch of artistry does not cost money, or costs very little.
It really needs some imagination and some love of beauty in
the men who build them. You can make the humblest cot-
tage attractive and beautiful even though it might be a mud
cottage, and you can make a big palace a thing of horror.

109

One often sees in India, recently erected, horrible buildings,
big buildings, costly buildings, painful to look at. It is not a
sense of money, but a sense of artistry. So far as great pub-
lic buildings are concerned, they do become expensive
because they are big. They have to be enduring, and to
some extent symbolic also. . . . May I suggest that in more
of our great public buildings we should encourage our
young artists, oin: young sculptors, and our young painters
to embellish them?

Speeches (1953-57), p. 466: from speech at lay-
ing the foundation stone of the new Corpora-
tion Building at Bangalore, October 6, 1955.

BKAUTIFUL BUILDINGS ARE BORN OUT OF

men’s faith in work

To go back to the Middle Ages or even to older times, you
still see the remains of ancient buildings, ancient structures,
temples, cathedrals, mosques and the like. No one knows
who built them, but any man who sees them knows that the
people who built them were not only fine builders, fine
engineers, but they were men of faith in their work. No man
can build or construct anything beautiful unless he has faith.
See the magnificent cathedrals of Europe. People seldom
know who their builders were but we do know, because the
evidence is there for our eyes to see, that the embodiment of
the faith of the builder is the engineer. So also with our great
temples and mosques and other buildings. Now, we live in
a different age. We do not spend much time and energy so
much on mosques, cathedrals and temples, but in other
types of public works. But those public works should also
be fine and beautiful, because there is that faith. So I would
like you to work in that faith and you will find that if you
work with that faith and that spirit, that will itself be a joy
to you.

Independence and After, p. 391: from speech
at Nineteenth Annual Meeting of the Central
Board of Irrigation, New Delhi, December 5,
1948.

110

THE CONCEPTION OF THE BUDDHA

The conception of the Buddha, to which innumerable loving
hands have given shape in carven stone and marble and
bronze, seems to symbolize the whole spirit of Indian
thought, or at least one vital aspect of it. Seated on the lotus
flower, calm and impassive, above passion and desire, be-
yond the storm and strife of this world, so far away he seems,
out of reach imattainable. Yet again we look and behind
those still, unmoving features there is a passion and an
emotion, strange and more powerful than the passions and
emotions we have known. His eyes are closed, but some
power of the spirit looks out of them and a vital energy
fills the frame. The ages roll by and Buddha seems not so
far away after all; his voice whispers in our ears and tells
us not to run away from the struggle but, calm-eyed, to
face it, and to see in life ever greater opportunities for
growth and advancement.

Personality counts today as ever, and a person who has
impressed himself on the thought of mankind as Bud dh a has,
so that even today there is something livmg and vibrant
about the thought of him, must have been a wonderful man
— a man, who was, as Barth says, the ‘finished model of calm
and sweet majesty, of infinite tenderness for all that breathes
and compassion for all that suffers, of perfect moral freedom
and exemption from every prejudice’. And the nation and
the race which can produce such a magnificent type must
have deep reserves of wisdom and inner strength.

The Discovery of India, pp. 142-3.

Ill

Education

PURPOSE OF EDUCATION

Education is meant to free the spirit of man and not to im-
prison it in set frames.

Independence and After, p. 123: from Convo-
cation Address at the Muslim University,
Aligarh, January 24, 1948.

BRAINS ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN
BRICKS

I am quite sure that education will advance rapidly if we
simplify our ideas about buildings and spend more on educa-
tion and less on bricks. I am all for dignified buildings for
educational institutions. I beheve that good buildings do
produce a strong impression on the person concerned. I do
not want shabby, shoddy structures; we should put up dig-
nified, solid buildings, but meanwhile, if we are to make
progress, let us spend what we have on education and its
content, rather than on brick and mortar.

Speeches (1953-57), p. 401: from speech at lay-
ing foundation of a women’s college, Madras,
January 22, 1955.

A COUNTRY IS JUDGED BY ITS TOP-RANKING
CITIZENS

Ultimately, a country’s standing in the world is obviously
judged not by the number of people it has, crores and crores,
but by the number of top-ranking men and women it Eas,
who show results, who can give a proper lead, and also by
the number of other eminent men it has to carry on the work
of a large country. It is a certain quality that counts in the
end, not quantity, although quantity also is necessary in a

112

certain measure.

Independence and After, p. 141: from address
at the Silver Jubilee Convocation o£ the Luck-
now University, January 28, 1949.

BASIC EDUCATION COMBINES THOUGHT
WITH ACTION

Our ideas of education which are very slowly being given
effect to — I wish the pace was faster — ^revolve round this
so-called basic education. There are many virtues in basic
education; but the main thing is that you really get down to
something and not just repeat things from a book. You get
even the smallest child to do something. Of course, there is
nothing specially Indian about it. Modem education is like
that everywhere. In India, a certain trend has been given
to it, notably by Mahatmaji. The idea is to get down to the
job with your hands and feet and not talk about it. I am
tired of people who merely talk about things. However wise
you may be, you can never enter into the spirit of a thing
if you only talk about it and do nothing. Even scientists have
a tendency to let a wonderful experiment remain an experi-
ment once it has been performed. The next stage somehow
does not come. They may well say that the next stage is
somebody else’s job but I think, if the scientist had a sense
of practical application, he would either try to do it him-
self or get somebody else to do it. This association of thought
with action is, I think, of utmost importance. Thought with-
out action is an abortion; action without thought is folly.
They must always be allied, whatever we may do. As I said
before, they are normally allied in an engineer and, there-
fore, he perhaps keeps fresher than others do. Also the
engineer is actually building; he is not planning for others
to build. There is some value in making plans, of course; it
has to be done but the man who does the job in the field is
actually creating something and there is nothing like crea-
tive activity for the growth of the individual and the com-
munity.

Speeches (1949-53), pp. 68-9: from speech at
the Silver Jubilee Celebrations of the Central
Board of Irrigation and Power, New Delhi,
November 17, 1952.

113

H

PRESENT DAY IDEA OF A CHILd’s EDUCATION
COMBINES KNOWLEDGE# WITH CRAFTS

It is weU recognized that a child’s education should he inti-
mately associated with some craft or manual activity. The
mind is stimulated thereby and there is a co-ordination be-
tween the activities of the mind and the hands. So also the
mind of a growing boy or girl is stimulated by the machine.
It grows under the machine’s impact (under proper con-
ditions, of course, and not as an exploited and unhappy
worker in a factory) and opens out new horizons. Simple
scientific experiments, peeps into the microscope, and an
explanation of the ordinary phenomena of nature, bring
excitement in their train, an understanding of some of life’s
processes and a desire to experiment and find out instead
of relying on set phrases and old formulae. Self-confidence
and the co-operative spirit grow, and frustration, arising out
of the miasma of the past, lessens. A civilization based on
everchangmg and advancing mechanical techniques leads
to this. Such a civilization is a marked change, a jump
almost, from the older t 5 q)e, and is intimately connected with
modem industrialization. Inevitably it gives rise to new
problems and difficulties, but it also shows the way to over-
come them.

The Discovery of India, p. 492.

DANGERS OF SPECIALIZATION OF
KNOWLEDGE

If I may say so with all humility, the greatest danger in the
world is that people, in their zeal to specialize, lose aU pers-
pective. They become specialists at a particular job and
very fine specialists at that but they lose the larger view of
things and, therefore, perhaps they may be said to be only
specialists and nothing more. Some of you may know these
lines from Wordsworth:

A primrose by a river s brim,

A yellow primrose was to him
And it was nothing more.

They bring to mind the botanist who studies the latin
names of flowers but loses all sense of the beauty of flowers.
In other words, we become experts in something but lack

114

wisdom in everything else. In our world, which is so learned
in so many subjects, there is very little wisdom. Perhaps,
that is because we all know something about a very little
part of life and very little about the larger scheme of things.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 379; from speech at
Centenary Celebrations of Government Mus-
eum, Madras, November 27, 1951.

STUDENT WORLD OF INDIA

The student world of India should be the nursery of new
ideas and clear thinking and disciplined action. And yet
unfortunately it often shows a lack of all the virtues that
it should possess.

The Unity of India, p. 112.

THE ROLE OF UNIVERSITIES

A University stands for humanism, for tolerance, for reason,
for progress, for the adventure of ideas and for the search
for truth. It stands for the onward march of the human
race towards even higher objectives. If the Universities dis-
charge their duty adequately, then it is well with the nation
and the people. But if the temple of learning itself becomes
a home of narrow bigotry and petty objectives, how then will
the nation prosper or a people grow in stature?

Independence and After, p. 118: from speech
at the Special Convocation of the Allahabad
University, December 13, 1947.

How are you, young men and women of this University,
going to conduct yourselves? I do not know what you have
in your minds or what desires and urges influence you. I
try to study the millions of faces wherever I go and I have
seen a good proportion of India’s vast population. Although
I see them in crowds and in groups, I look into their eyes
and try to read what lies behind those eyes. I do this, especi-
ally when I meet young men and women, because I am
deeply concerned with the future of India which they repre-
sent to me. The future of this country ultimately depends on
her young men and women, most of whom are in colleges

115

and in universities today. I am anxious to find out what stuff
they are made of. They are large in number; but what really
counts, if our country is to progress, is the quality of our
human material. ... I have no doubt that you try to play
a good game when you go in for sports. You perhaps run a
hundred yards in ten seconds; but if you want to be an athlete
of real quahty you have to surpass and out-distance others.
It makes a lot of difference whether you do a hundred yards
in ten seconds or in eleven seconds. The difference is only
one second but it is very important. That applies to every-
thing. Is the University of Saugor going to produce men
and women of real quality?

Speeches (1949-53), pp. 432-3; from Address
at the University of Saugor, October 30, 1952.

If the Universities do not teach some kind of basic wisdom,
if they think in terms of producing people with degrees
who want certain jobs, then the universities may have, per-
haps, solved to a very minor extent the problem of imem-
ployment or provided some technical help or other; but they
will not have produced men who can understand or solve
the problems of today.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 427: from Address at
the University of Ceylon, Colombo, January
12, 1950.

AN INTEGKATED LIFE IS ABSENT TODAY

In tlie ancient civilizations of India and Greece that one
reads about, one has, or at any rate, I have the sensation that
people, though much more limited in the knowledge at their
disposal, certainly had an integrated view of life. They were
not so distracted; they could see life as a whole in spite
of the fact that they did not know as much or nearly as much
as the average undergraduate knows today. Because of this
integrated view of life, they had a certain wisdom in their
approach to life’s problems.

Whether this is true or not I do not know, because one
is apt to endow the past with a certain glamour. It may be
that I am wrong but in any event one thing seems to me to
be certain, namely, that we of today have no integrated

116

view of life; that we, however clever we may be and how-
ever much of facts and knowledge we may have accumu-
lated, are not very wise. We are narrower than the people
of old, although every fact has gone to bring us together
in this world. We travel swiftly, we have communications,
we know more about one another and we have the radio and
all kinds of things. In spite of aU these widening influences,
we are narrower in our minds. That is the extraordinary
thing which I caimot understand.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 426; from Convocation
Address at the University of Ceylon, Colombo,
January 12, 1950.

117

Culture

CULTURE

1 take it that a University is essentially a place of culture,
whatever culture’ might mean. But that takes me back to
where I began. There is a great deal of culture all over the
place and I, normally, find that those people who talk most
loudly of culture, according to my judgment, possess no
culture at all. Culture, first of all, is not loud; it is quiet,
it is restrained, it is tolerant. You may judge the culture of
a person by his silence, by a gesture, by a phrase or, more
especially, by his life generally. The peculiar narrow idea
of culture that is spreading is that culture depends on the
kind of headgear you wear or the kind of food you eat or
on similar superficial things which, I do not deny, have a
certain importance but which are very secondary in the
larger context of life.

Speeches (1949-53), pp. 428-9: from Convoca-
tion Address at the University of Ceylon,
Colombo, January 12, 1950.

I am astonished at the way the word culture’ is bandied
about in India. To me this only means that there is no cul-
ture where this is done. Culture is not something that can
be bandied about. It does not talk too much and does not
shout too much. ... I am amazed that people should func-
tion in such a narrow way, that they should shut their minds
and demand that others should shut their minds, too, against
anything new and talk only of Indian culture. I know some-
thing about culture. Those who preach that doors should be
shut do not know anything of culture. Every process of ex-
clusion means lack of culture; every process of inclusion
indicates growth. Those elements that beUeve in pushing
things away narrow the mind and the nation falls back to
a period of static culture. . . . To be dynamic and creative

118

is the practical policy or the higher view of culture.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 434: from Address at
the University of Saugor, October 30, 1952.

A nation’s culture depends on various

FACTORS

Culture, if it has any value, must have a certain depth. It
must also have a certain d3mamic character. After ail, cul-
ture depends on a vast number of factors. If we leave out
what might be called the basic mould that was given to it
in the early stages of a nation’s or a people’s growth, it is
affected by geography, by climate and by all kinds of
other factors. The culture of Arabia is intimately governed
by the geography and the deserts of Arabia because it grew
up there. Obviously, the culture of India in the old days was
affected greatly, as we see in our own literatmre, by the
Himalayas, the forests and the great rivers of India among
other things. It was a natural growth from the soil. Of the
various domains of culture, like architecture, music and
literature, any two may mix together, as they often did and
produce a happy combination. But where there is an
attempt to improve something or the other which does not
naturally grow and mould itself without uprooting itself,
conflict inevitably arises. Then also comes something which
to my mind is basically opposed to all ideas of culture. And
that is the isolation of the mind and the deliberate shutting
up of the mind to other influences. My own view of India’s
history is that we can almost measure the growth and the
advance of India and the decline of India by relating them
to periods when India had her mind open to the outside
world and when she wanted to close it up. The more she
closed it up, the more static she became. Life, whether of
the individual, group, nation or society, is essentially a
dynamic, changing, growing thing. Whatever stops that
dynamic growth also injures it and undermines it.

Speeches (1949-53), pp. 358-9: from speech at
the inauguration of the Indian Council for
Cultural Relations, New Delhi, April 9, 1950.

119

CULTUEE DOES NOT DEPEND ON NUMBERS

Culture and individuality in a people do not depend en-
tirely on numbers, but on something more vital. Even small
minorities, enveloped by hostile and alien peoples, have re-
tained their culture, language and individuality, and even
intensified them.

The Unity of India, p. 116.

CULTURE INCLUDES SELF RESTRAINT

Culture and civilization are difficult to define and I shall not
try to define them. But among the many things that culture
includes are certainly restraint over oneself and considera-
tion for others. If a person has not got this restraint over him-
self and has no consideration for others, one can certainly
say that he is uncultured.

Glimpses of World History, Vol. I, p. 52.

CULTURE WIDENS THE MIND AND THE
SPIRIT

Culture is the widening of the mind and of the spirit. It is
never a narrowing of the mind or a restriction of the human
spirit or of the country’s spirit.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 366: from speech at
Digwadih, April 22, 1950.

A CULTURED MAN IS BROADMINDED AND
TOLERANT

Does culture mean some inner growth in the man? Of
course, it must. Does it mean the way he behaves to others?
Certainly it must. Does it mean the capacity to understand
the other person? I suppose so. Does it mean the capacity
to make yourself understood by the other person? I suppose
so. It means all that. A person who cannot understand
another’s view point is to that extent limited in mind and
culture, because nobody, perhaps, barring some very extra-
ordinary human beings, can presume to have the fullest
knowledge and wisdom. The other party or the other group
may also have some inkling of knowledge or wisdom or truth

120

and if we shut our minds to that then we not only deprive
ourselves of it but we cultivate an attitude which, I would
say, is opposed to that of a cultured man. The cultured
mind, rooted in itself, should have its doors and windows
open. It should have the capacity to understand the other’s
view-point fully even though it cannot always agree with
it. The question of agreement or disagreement only arises
when you understand a thing. Otherwise, it is blind nega-
tion which is not a cultured approach to any question.

Speeches (1949-53), pp. 359-60: from speech
at the inauguration of the Indian Council for
Cultural Relations, New Delhi, April 9, 1950.

CULTURE AND GOD HAVE NO PLACE BEFORE

HUNGER

It is really folly to talk of culture or even of God when
human beings starve and die. Before one can talk about any-
thing else one must provide the normal essentials of life to
human beings. That is where economics comes in. Human
beings today are not in the mood to tolerate this suffering
and starvation and inequality when they see that the burden
is not equally shared.

Speeches (1949-53), pp. 361-2: from speech at
Inauguration of the Indian Council for Cul-
tural Relations, New Delhi, April 9, 1950.

CULTURE AND WISDOM

I shall leave you to determine what culture and wisdom
really are. We grow in learning, in knowledge, and in experi-
ence, till we have such an enormous accumulation of them
that it becomes impossible to know exactly where we stand.
We are overwhelmed by all this and, at the same time, some-
how or other we have a feeling that all these put together do
not necessarily represent a growth in the wisdom of the
human race. I have a feeling that perhaps some people who
did not have all the advantages of modem life and modem
science were essentially wiser than most of us are. Whether
or not we shall be able in later times to combine all this
knowledge, scientific growth and betterment of the human

121

species with true wisdom, I do not know. I am reminded of
the saying of a very wise man who was a famous Greek
poet:

What else is Wisdom? What of man’s endeavour or
God’s high grace, so lovely and so great?

To stand from fear set free, to breathe and wait.

To hold a hand uplifted over Hate

And shall not Loveliness be loved for ever?

Speeches (1949-53), pp. 362-3: from speech at
the inauguration of the Indian Council for
Cultural Relations, New Delhi, April 9, 1950.

122

Science and Teclinology

SCIENCE IS OF THE VERY TEXTURE OF LIFE

Though I have long been a slave driven in the chariot of
Indian pohtics, with httle leisure for other thoughts, my
mind has often wandered to the days when as a student I
haunted the laboratories of that home of science, Cam-
bridge. And though circumstances made me part company
with science, my thoughts turned to it with longing. In later
years, through devious processes, I arrived again at science,
when I realized that science was not only a pleasant diver-
sion and abstraction, but was of the very tejrture of hfe,
without which our modem world would vanish away. Poli-
tics led me to economics, and this led me inevitably to
science and the scientific approach to all our problems and
to life itself. It was science alone that could solve these
problems of hunger and poverty, of insanitation and illit-
eracy, of superstition and deadening custom and tradition,
of vast resources running to waste, of a rich country inhab-
ited by starving people.

The Unity of India, p.

A nation’s SURVIVAL DEPENDS ON ITS
SCIENTIFIC ADVANCEMENT

It may well be argued that too much stress on technology
and other branches — ^speciahst branches of the physical
sciences — ^has led to a certain lop-sided growth of human
beings in industrially and technically advanced countries.
It has led to too great a power being placed in the hands
of human beings without the corresponding moral capacity
to use it rightly. But that is only one aspect of the problem.
The other aspect, and an exceedingly important one, is that
a country can only survive today if it has enough of scienti-

123

fic and technical personnel.

Speeches (1953-57), p. 164: from the Presiden-
tial Address at the third annual meeting of the
Indian Institute of Public Administration, New
Delhi, April 6, 1957.

SCIENCE AND LIFE

Science does not tell us much, or for the matter of that
anything, about the purpose of life. It is now widening its
boundaries and it may invade the so-called invisible world
before long and help us to understand this purpose of life
in its widest sense, or at least give us some glimpses which
illumine the problem of human existence. The old contro-
versy between science and religion takes a new form — ^the
application of the scientific method to emotional and religi-
ous experiences.

The Discovery of India, p. 14.

man’s evil USE OF SCIENCE

One’s imagination is fired by the major development in the
history of mankind — ^this conquest of the air. I am not sure
myself yet whether in the ultimate analysis it is going to be
good for mankind or bad. Just as every great invention can
be used for good ends or evil ends, science which is the
greatest thing in human history, the development of science
which has advanced humanity so tremendously has also
been used for evil purposes. But that is not the fault of
science. That is the fault of the human being who uses it
for evil purposes, and that is another question.

Independence and After, p. 328: from speech
at the International Civil Aviation Organiza-
tion, New Delhi, November 23, 1948.

ACTIVE PRINCIPLE OF SCIENCE

The active principle of science is discovery.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 364: from speech at
opening of Fuel Research Institute, Digwadih,
April 22, 1950.

124

THE SCIENTIFIC APPROACH

We have advanced greatly in science — am a great believer
in science — ^and the scientific approach has changed the
world completely. I think that if the world is to solve its
problems, it will inevitably have to be through the means
of science and not by discarding science. Nevertheless, I find
that the sheer advance of science has often enough made
people unscientific. That is an extraordinary tiling to say but
what I mean is that science has become so vast and all-
pervading that scientists are unable to grasp things in their
entirety and have become narrower and narrower in each
individual subject. They may be very brilliant in some sub-
jects but they seem to have no grip on life as a whole.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 425: from address at the
University of Ceylon, Colombo, January 12,
1950.

SCIENCE AND HUMAN THOUGHT

Human thought is ever advancing, ever grappling with and
trying to imderstand the problems of nature and the uni-
verse. ... To me there is a great fascination in this challenge
of the human mind, and how it soars up to the uttermost
comers of the universe and tries to fathom its mysteries, and
dares to grasp and measure what appear to be the infinitely
big as well as the infinitely small.

Glimpses of World History, Vol. II, p. 1363.

THE TRUE SCIENTIST ALWAYS SEEKS TRUTH

The tme scientist is the sage unattached to life and the
fruits of action, ever seeldng tmth wheresoever this quest
might lead him to.

The Unity of India, p. 179.

SCIENCE HAS REVOLUTIONIZED HUMAN LIFE

Yet I am convinced that the methods and approach of
science have revolutionized human life more than anything
else in the long course of history, and have opened doors and

125

avenues of further and even more radical change, leading
up to the very portals of what has long been considered the
unknown. The technical achievements of science are obvious
fiTinn g h , its capacity to transform an economy of scarcity
into one of abundance is evident, its invasion of many prob-
lems which have so far been the monopoly of philosophy
is becoming more pronoxmced. Space-time and the Quantum
Theory utterly changed the picture of the physical world.
More recent researches into ihe nature of matter, the struc-
ture of the atom, the transmutation of the elements, and the
transformation of electricity and light, either into the other,
have carried human knowledge much further. Man no longer
sees nature as something apart and distinct from himself.
Human destiny appears to become a part of nature’s rhyth-
mic energy.

AU this upheaval of thought, due to the advance of
science, has led scientists into a new region, verging on the
metaphysical. They draw different and often contradictory
conclusions. Some see in it a new unity, the antithesis of
chance. Others, like Bertrand Russell, say: ‘Academic phil-
osophers ever since the time of Parmenides have believed
the world is unity. The most fimdamental of my beliefs is
that this is rubbish.’ Or again; ‘Man is the product of causes
which had no prevision of the end they were achieving; his
origin, his growth, his hopes and fears, his loves and beliefs
are but the outcome of accidental collocations of atoms.’
And yet the latest developments in physics have gone a long
way to demonstrate a fundamental xmity in nature.

The Discovery of India, pp. 20-1.

man’s achievements in science

In the last generation or two, there have been certain ex-
plorations of the remotest frontiers of human knowledge
which are leading us to many strange discoveries and strange
consequences. Max Planck’s Quantum Theory and later on,
Albert Einstein’s Theory of Relativity changed the whole
conception of the universe. Soon came the Atom bomb with
its power to kill. The human mind and human efforts are
unleashing tremendous powers without quite knowing how
to control them. They cannot be controlled by a mere desire

126

or demand for banning them. Nobody can really control the
human mind from going on unleashing new forces.

Speeches (1953-7), p. 254: from speech in the
House of the People (Lok Sabha), New Delhi,
May 10, 1954.

SCIENTIFIC ADVANCE SHOULD NOT LEAD TO
MORAL DEGENERATION OF MAN

I am, if I may say so, a great admirer of the achievements
of modem civilization, of the grovrth and applications of
science and of technological growth. Humanity has every
reason to be proud of them and yet if these achievements
lessen the capacity for future growth — and that will happen
if the mind deteriorates — ^then surely there is something
wrong about this process. It is obvious that ultimately the
mind should dominate. I am not mentioning the spirit again
but that comes into the picture, too. If the world suffers
from mental deterioration or from moral degradation, then
something goes wrong at the very root of civilization or
culture. Even though that civilization may drag out for a
considerable period, it grows less and less vital and ulti-
mately tumbles down. When I look back upon the periods of
past liistory I find certain periods very outstanding. They
show great achievements of the human mind, while some
others do not. One finds races achieving a high level and
then apparently fading away — at least fading away from
the point of view of their achievements. And so I wonder
whether something that led to the fading away of relatively
high cultures is not happening today and producing an inner
weakness in the stmcturie of our modern civilization . . .

I suppose the vitality of a group, an individual or a society
is measured by the extent to which it possesses courage and,
above aU, creative imagination. If that creative imagination
is lacking, our growth becomes more and more stunted,
which is a sign of decay. What then is happening tdoay? Are
we trying to improve in this respect or are we merely func-
tioning somewhere on the surface without touching the
reality which is afflicting the world and which may result

127

in political conflict, in economic warfare or in world war.

Speeches (1949-53), pp. 383-4: from address at
the UNESCO Symposium, New Delhi, Dec-
ember 20, 1951.

LIFE MUST BE FACED WITH THE TEMPER
OF SCIENCE

It is therefore with the temper and approach of science,
allied to philosophy, and with reverence for all that lies
beyond, that we must face life. Thus we may develop an
integral vision of life which embraces in its wide scope the
past and the present, with all their heights and depths and
look with serenity towards the future. The depths are there
and cannot be ignored, and always by the side of the loveli-
ness that surroimds us is the misery of the world. Man’s
journey through life is an odd mixture of joy and sorrow;
thus only can he learn and advance. The travail of the soul is
a tragic and lonely business. External events and their conse-
quences affect us powerfully, and yet the greatest shocks
come to our minds through inner fears and conflicts. While
we advance on the external plane, as we must if we are to
survive, we also have to win peace with ourselves and be-
tween ourselves and our environment, a peace which brings
satisfaction not only to our physical and material needs
but also to those inner imaginative urges and adventurous
spirit that have distinguished man ever since he started on
his troubled journey in the realms of thought and action.
Whether that journey has any ultimate purpose or not we
do not know, but it has its compensations, and it points to
many a nearer objective which appears attainable and which
may again become the starting point for a fresh advance.

The Discovery of India, p. 626.

128

The Industrial Age

THE INDUSTRIAL AGE

The industrial age has brought many evils that loom large
before us; but we are apt to forget that, taking the world as
a whole, and especially the parts that are most industrial-
ized, it has laid down a basis of material well-being which
makes cultural and spiritual progress far easier for large
numbers. This is not all evident in India or other colonial
countries as we have not profited by industrialism. We have
only been exploited by it and in many respects made worse,
even materially, and more so culturally and spiritually. The
fault is not of industriahsm but of foreign domination. The
so-called Westernization in India has actually, for the time
being, strengthened feudalism, and instead of solving any
of our problems has simply intensified them.

Autobiography, p. 520.

INDUSTRIALIZATION ESSENTIAL FOR
INDEPENDENCE

It can hardly be challenged that, in the context of the
modern world, no country can be politically and economic-
ally independent, even within the framework of internat-
ional interdependence, unless it is highly industrialized and
developed its power resources to the utmost. Nor can it
achieve or maintain high standards of living and liquidate
poverty without the aid of modem technology in almost
every sphere of hfe. An industrially backward country will
continually upset the world equilibrium and encourage the
aggressive tendencies of more developed countries. Even if
it retains its political independence, this will be nominal
only, and economic control will tend to pass to others.

The Discovery of India, p. 490,

I 129

THE TRIUMPH OF THE MACHINE

The triumph of the machine and of industrialism meant the
triumph of the classes that controlled the machine.

Glimpses of World History, Vol. I, p. 542.

DANGERS OF BIG INDUSTRY

It is true, I think, that there are certain inherent dangers in
big industry and the big machine. There is a tendency to
concentrate power and I am not quite sure that this can be
wholly eliminated. But I cannot conceive of the world or of
any progressive country doing away with the big machine.
Even if this was possible, this would result in lowering pro-
duction tremendously and in thus reducing standards of life
greatly.

A Bunch of Old Letters, p. 382: from letter to
Krisna Kripalani, dated September 29, 1939.

MAN-POWER AND M A C H I N E - P O W E R

Foolish comparisons are made between man-power and
machine-power; of course, a big machine can do the work
of a thousand or ten thousand persons. But if those ten
thousand persons sit idly by or starve, the introduction of
that machine is not a social gain, except in long perspective
which envisages a change in social conditions. It is a nett
gain both from the individual and the national point of view
to ultilize man-power for production. There is no necessary
conflict between this and the introduction of machinery on
the largest scale, provided that machinery is used primarily
for absorbing labour and not for creating fresh unemploy-
ment.

The Discovery of India, p. 487.

PRODUCTION

Production means wealth.

Independence and After, p. 159: from a talk
broadcast from New Delhi, January 18, 1948.

130

THE STRIKE

The strike is a powerful weapon, the only real weapon of
labour. It has to be cherished and preserved and used in an
organized and disciplined way with effect when necessity
arises. To use it casually and sporadically is to blunt it and
thus weaken labour itself.

The Unity of India, p. 74.

labour’s right to strike

I am the last man to say that Labour should be denied the
right to strike, for the weapon of strike has been a valued
weapon by means of which Labour has gradually gained a
position of strength and eminence in most countries. Never-
theless, there are times when strikes are dangerous, when
strikes not only injure the cause of the nation, but also ulti-
mately the cause of the worker himself.

Independence and After, p. 160: from a talk
broadcast from New Delhi, January 18, 1948.

TRADE UNIONS

I am all in favour of toade imions. I have been in favour,
in theory, of labour’s right to strike because I have read
the history of the labour movement in England and Europe
for the last 150 years. And I think every employer should
realize the terrible time labour has had for generations, how
they were crushed, how they were sent to Australia for the
pettiest offence, as life-time convicts, and, how, slowly, by
means of co-operative efforts, the trade unions gradually
gained some — cannot call them privileges — ^normal human
rights. That is why labour prizes the right to strike jealously.
That has been its only sanction.

Speeches (1953-57), p. 66: from address to the
Associated Chambers of Commerce, Calcutta,
December 14, 1953.

INDUSTRIAL WARFARE INJURES THE NATION

I think one of the most important things for us to realise
today is that industrial warfare injures and weakens the

131

nation at any time, of course, but more especially today,
when we have just launched our ship of state. If the crew of
the ship starts non-co-operation, how will the ship start its
voyage?

Independence and After, p. 366: from a speech
at Vizagapatam, March 14, 1948.

NO GOING BACK TO THE PRIMITIVE WAYS

OF LIFE

I do think that life cut off completely from the soil will ulti-
mately wither away. Of course there is seldom such a com-
plete cutting off and the processes of nature take their time.
But it is a weakness of modern civilization that it is pro-
gressively going further away from the life-giving elements.
The competitive and acquisitive characteristics of modem
capitalist society, the enthronement of wealth above every-
thing else, and the continuous strain and lack of security for
many, add to the ill-health of the mind and produce neurotic
states. A saner and more balanced economic stracture would
lead to an improvement of these conditions. Even so it will
be necessary to have greater and more living contacts with
the land and nature. This does not mean a return to the
land in the old limited sense of the word, or to a going back
to primitive ways of life. That remedy might well be worse
than the disease. It should be possible to organize modern
industry in such a way as to keep men and women, as far as
possible, in touch with the land, and to raise the cultural
level of mral areas. The village and the city should approach
each other in regard to life’s amenities, so that in both there
should be full oportunities for bodily and mental develop-
ment and a full all-round life.

The Discovery of India, pp. 678-9.

INDIA SEEKS TO RECONCILE MODERN
INDUSTRIAL CIVILIZATION WITH HER OWN
ANCIENT IDEALS OF LIFE

In the sub-conscious mind of India, there is questioning, a
stmggle, a crisis. As of old, India seeks a synthesis of the
past and the present, of the old and the new. She sees the

new industrial civilization marching on irresistibly; she dis-
trusts it and dislikes it to some extent, for it is an attack
against and an upheaval of so much that is old; yet she has
accepted that industrial civilization as an inevitable devel-
opment. So she seeks to synthesise it with her own funda-
mental conceptions, to find a harmony between the inner
man and his ever-changing outer environment. That har-
mony is strangely lacking in the whole world today. All of
us seek it blindly. Till we find it we shall have to march
wearily through the deserts of conflict and hatred and
mutual destruction.

The Unity of India, p. 26.

PRICE OF INDUSTRIALIZATION

The price paid for rapid industrialization has been terrific
in some socialistic countries. I am certain that no country
with any kind of parliamentary democracy can possibly pay
it. Maybe, where there is a dictatorship with an army behind
it, they may be able to do it. But even a dictator cannot go
too far without the consent of the people.

Speeches (1953-57), p. 11: from speech in Lok
Sabha, New Delhi, December 21, 1954.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN INDIANS AND
OTHERS

I won’t put it that way, that Indians are ‘more spiritual’. I
would say that a static society talks more about spirituality.
Yet, naturally, there are diflFerences between Indians and
other peoples. It is not that Indians are better than others.
But, for instance, even if wealth is naturally desired by
people the wealthy man has never been admired greatly
here. Wealth is wanted, but somehow in the whole of our
past the man of learning was always much more respected
than the wealthy man. It is a national outlook. One of those
factors which have influence. But, naturally, the urge for
material advance is present.

Conversations with Mr. Nehru, pp. 118-19.

133

A HUMAN ASPECT MUST INSPIRE OUR
ECONOMIC PROGRAMME

Our economic programme must be based on a human outlook
and must not sacrifice men to money. If an industry cannot
be nm without starving its workers, then the industry must
close down. If the workers on the land have not enough to
eat, then the intermediaries who deprive them of their full
shsire must go. The least that every worker in field or factory
is entitled to is a minimum wage which will enable him to
live in moderate comfort, and humane hours of labour
which do not break his spirit and strength.

India and the World, p. 30 .

134

Planning

PLANNING POSSIBLE ONLY IN A FREE
COUNTRY

It was obvious also that any comprehensive planning could
only take place under a free national government, strong
enough and popular enough to be in a position to introduce
fundamental changes in the social and economic structure.
Thus the attainment of national freedom and the elimin-
ation of foreign control became an essential prerequisite for
planning. There were many other obstacles — our social
backwardness, customs, traditional outlook, etc. — but they
had in any event to be faced. Planning thus was not so much
for the present, as for an unascertained future, and there was
an air of unreahty about it. Yet it had to be based on the
present and we hoped that this future was not a distant one.
K we could collect the available material, co-ordinate it,
and draw up blue-prints, we would prepare the ground for
the real effective future planning, meanwhile indicating to
Provincial Government and States the lines on which they
should proceed and develop their resources. The attempt to
plan and see the various national activities — economic,
social, cultural — ^fitting into each other, had also a highly
educative value for ourselves and the general public. It
made the people come out of their narrow grooves of thought
and action, to think of problems in relation to another, and
develop to some extent at least a wider co-operative outlook.

The Discovery of India, pp. 474-5.

PLANNING IS SCIENCE IN ACTION

Planning is science in action. Planning has to be flexible; it
has to be wide awake and alert. That applies not merely to
the industrial process but to the administration as well.

Speeches (1953-57), p. 165: from presidential
address at the Indian Institute of Public
Administration, New Delhi, April 6, 1957.

135

PLANNING INCREASES FREEDOM

Planning, though inevitably bringing about a great deal of
control and co-ordination and interfering in some measure
with individual freedom, would as a matter of fact, in the
context of India today, lead to a vast increase of freedom.
We have very little freedom to lose. We have only to gaiu
freedom. If we adhered to the democratic State structure
and encouraged co-operative enterprises, many of the
dangers of regimentation and concentration of power might
be avoided.

The Discovery of India, p. 481.

PLANNING WILL GIVE US AN INSIGHT INTO
OUR PROBLEMS

This is the first attempt in India to integrate the agricul-
tural, industrial, social, economic and other aspects of the
country into a single framework of thinking. It is a very
important step. ... It has made the people think of this
country as a whole. I think it is most essential that India,
which is united politically and in many other ways, should,
to die same extent, be united mentally and emotionally also.
We often go oflE at a tangent on grounds of provincialism,
communahsm, religion or caste. We have no emotional
awareness of the unity of the country. Planning will help us
in having an emotional awareness of our problems as a whole
it will help us to see the isolated problems in villages or dis-
tricts or even provinces in their larger context.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 97: from speech in

Parliament, New Delhi, December 15, 1952.

PLANNING NECESSARY IN COUNTRIES OF
ARRESTED GROWTH

I am all for tractors and big machinery and I am convinced
that the rapid industrialization of India is essential to relieve
the pressure on the land, to combat poverty and to raise
standards of living, for defence, and a variety of other pur-
poses. But I am equally convinced that the most careful
planning and adjustment are necessary if we are to reap

136

the full benefit of industrialization and avoid naany of its
dangers. This planning is necessary today in all countries
of arrested growth, like China and India, which have strong
traditions of their own.

The Discovery of India, p. 488.

THE ESSENCE OF PLANNING IS BALANCING

Planning consists essentially in balancing: the balancing be-
tween industry and agriculture, the balancing between
heavy industry and light industry, the balancing between
cottage industry and other industry. If one of them goes
wrong, then the whole economy is upset. If you concentrate
too much on industry, leaving agriculture to look after itself,
the country gets into difficulties. In some of the East Euro-
pean countries there have been some inner conflicts and
troubles and probably the real basis of these conflicts was
economic. The economy of these countries was not a bal-
anced one. Too much stress was laid on a very rapid develop-
ment of industry, especially heavy industry, with the result
that agriculture suffered, and with it the whole economy. A
very eminent economist of one of these Eastern countries
of Europe delivered a speech about two or three months
ago, in which, criticizing their own plan, he recommended
to the people in those countries that they should look at
India’s Second Five-Year Plan, which was a much more bal-
anced effort. And curiously enough, he recommended much
greater stress on village industry and handicrafts to these
people.

Speeches (1953-57), p. 51: from speech at the

All-India Congress Committee, Indore, Jan-
uary 4, 1957.

PLANNING AN ACCEPTED IDEA AT THE
PRESENT DAY

The idea of planning and a planned society is accepted now
in varying degrees by almost everyone. But planning by it-
self has little meaning and need not necessarily lead to
good results. Everything depends upon the objectives of the
plan and on the controlling authority, as well as of course

137

the government behind it. Does the plan aim definitely at
the well-being and advancement of the people as a whole,
at the opening out of opportunity for all and the growth of
freedom and methods of co-operative organization and
action? Increase of production is essential but obviously by
itself it does not take us far and may even add to the com-
plexity of our problems. An attempt to preserve old-estab-
lished and vested interests cuts at the very root of planning.
Real planning must recognise that no such special interests
can be allowed to come in the way of any scheme designed to
further the well-being of the community as a whole. ... If
pl an n in g is largely controlled by big industrialists it will be
naturally envisaged within the framework of the system they
are used to, and will be essentially based on the profit
motive of an acquisitive society. However well-intentioned
they might be, and some of them are certainly full of good
intentions, it is difficult for them to think on new lines. Even
when they talk of State control of industry they think of the
State more or less as it is today.

The Discovery of India, pp. 609-10.

PLANNING UNDER A DEMOCRATIC SET-UP

It is easy to talk about planning in limited spheres of activ-
ity. Naturally, planning for a whole nation involves infinitely
greater effort than planning in bits. Planning, in the larger
sense, is thus an integrated way of looking at a nation’s mani-
fold activities. I do not mean to go in for comparisons but
the old Soviet approach to planning was different from ours,
both from the point of view of objectives and that of the
methods adopted, though the difference between the two
countries was greater in the latter case. In view of the fact
that we function under a democratic set-up, which we have
deliberately adopted and enshrined in our Constitution and
in this Parliament, any planning that we do must naturally
be within that set-up. The Planning Commission does not
have the right to draw up a programme that has no relation
to our Constitution or to the set-up under which we work.

Speeches (1949-53), pp. 92-3: from speech in
Parliament, New Delhi, December 15, 1952.

138

THE PLAN IS THE COUNTRY’S DEFENCE

An Hon. Member, I am told, said here: “What is the good of
your Five-Year Plans? You must concentrate on defence.’
That is a grave statement to make. But the Five-Year Plan
is the defence plan of the country. What else is it? Because,
defence does not consist in people going about marching up
and down the road with guns and other weapons. Defence
consists today in a coimtry being industrially prepared for
producing the goods and the equipment of defence.

Speeches (1953-57), p. 41: from speech in Lok
Sabha, New Delhi, March 21, 1956.

139

Socialism

SOCIALISM SOLVES THE WORLd’s PROBLEMS

I am convinced that the only key to the solution of the
worlds problems and of India’s problems hes in.Sociahsm,
and when I use this word I do so not in a vague humanitar-
ian way but in the scientific economic sense. Socialism is,
however, something even more than an economic doctrine; it
is a philosophy of life and as such also it appeals to me. I see
no way of ending the poverty, the vast unemployment, the
degradation and the subjection of the Indian people except
through Sociahsm.

India and the World, pp. 82-3.

THE INEVITABILITY OF SOCIALISM

Inevitably we are led to the only possible solution — ^the
establishment of a socialist order, first within national boim-
daries, and eventually in the world as a whole, with a con-
trolled production and distribution of wealth for the public
good. How this is to be brought about is another matter, but
it is clear that the good of a nation or of mankind must not
be held up because some people who profit by the existing
order object to the change. If political or social institutions
stand in the way of such a change, they have to be removed.
To compromise with them at the cost of that desirable and
practical ideal would be a gross betrayal. Such a change
may partly be forced or expedited by world conditions, but
it can hardly take place without the willing consent or
acquiescence of the great majority of the people concerned.
They have therefore to be converted and won over to it.
Conspiratorial violence of a small group will not help. Nat-
urally efforts must be made to win over even those who
profit by the existing system, but it is highly unlikely that
any large percentage of them will be converted.

Autobiography, p. 523.

140

I AM A SOCIALIST

I must frankly confess that I am a Socialist and a republi-
can, and am no believer in kings or princes or in the order
which produces the modem kings of industry, who have
greater power over the hves and fortunes of men than even
the kings of old, and whose methods are as predatory as
those of the old feudal aristocracy. I recognize, how-
ever, that it may not be possible for a body constituted
as is this National Congress, to adopt a full socialistic pro-
gramme. But we must realise that the philosophy of Social-
ism has gradually permeated the entire structure of society
the world over, and almost the only points in dispute are
the pace and the methods of advance to its full realization.
India will have to go that way, too, if she seeks to end her
poverty and inequality, though she may evolve her own
methods and may adapt the ideal to the genius of her race.

India and the World, pp. 27-8.

SOCIALISM LEADS TO PEACE AND WORLD

ORDER

Real world order and peace will only come when socialism
is realised on a world scale. It is perfectly true that real
socialism involves a profound transformation of the deeper
habits of opinion and character and this inevitably takes
time.

A Bunch of Old Letters, p. 139: from letter to
Lord Lothian, dated January 17, 1936.

INSTITUTION OF PRIVATE PROPERTY
SPELLS DANGER TO SOCIETY

Personally I feel that the institution of private property
(except in a very restricted sense) gives dangerous power to
individuals over society as a whole and is therefore very
harmful to society.

Autobiography, p. 543.

ON PROPERTY

I have no property sense. It seems a burden to me to carr\"

141

property; it is a nuisance. In life’s journey one should be
lightly laden; one cannot be tied down to a patch of land or
a building. I cannot appreciate this intense attachment to
property. But, while not appreciating it, I realize and recog-
nize its prevalence. At the same time I think the proposition
that some honomable members on the opposite side ad-
vanced about acquisition or confiscation without compensa-
tion seems to be basically wrong. I say so from the point of
view of the pubhc good, not because I love property. Except
in particular cases, where a person misbehaves and so on,
I do not want anything to be acquired except on payment
of just compensation.

Speeches (1953-57), pp. 130-1: from speech in
Lok Sabha, New Delhi, April 11, 1955.

TO DEIFY PROPERTY IS MONSTROUS

It is a monstrous thing that property should be made a god,
above human beings. To say that whatever a man may do —
he may even commit murder — ^is nothing, but property is a
god and must be worshipped, is a view of property which
government is not prepared to accept at all.

Speeches (1953-57), p. 127: from speech in
Lok Sabha, New Delhi, April 11, 1955.

SOCIALISM ENSURES GREATER FREEDOM TO
THE INDIVIDUAL

I do not see why under sociahsm there should not be a
great deal of freedom for the individual; indeed, far greater
freedom than the present system gives. He can have free-
dom of conscience and mind, freedom of enterprise, and
even the possession of private property on a restricted scale.
Above all, he will have the freedom which comes from econ-
omic security, which only a small number possess today.

I think India and the world will have to march in this
direction of Socialism unless catastrophe brings ruin to the
world. That march may vary in different countries and the
intermediate steps might not be the same. Nothing is so
foolish as to imagine that exactly the same processes take
place in different countries with varying backgrounds.

142

India, even if she accepted this goal, would have to find her
own way to it, for we have to avoid unnecessary sacrifice
and the way of chaos, which may retard our progress for a
generation.

The Unity of India, p. 118.

RAISING THE STANDARD OF THE MASSES
OUR MAIN PROBLEM

Our problem today is to raise the standard of the masses,
supply them with their needs, give them the wherewithal
to lead a decent life, to help them to progress and advance
in life not only in regard to material things but in regard to
cultural and spiritual things also. What will happen in the
distant future, I do not know, but I should Hke to set them
on the right road and I do not care what ‘ism’ it is that helps
me to set them on that road, provided I do it. And if one
thing fails, we will try another. We need not be dogmatic
about this or that approach. Anything that comes in the way
has simply to be ignored, or will be swept away.

Independence and After, pp. 190-1: from
speech at the meeting of the Federation of
Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry,
New Delhi, March 4, 1949.

INDIA HAS A CHANCE OF EVOLVING A HIGH
STANDARD OF LIFE

I do not mean to say that India is spiritually developed.
Other countries, too, may have so developed or may not
have. Talking of India’s spiritualism merely confuses the
issues. But I do think that India, situated as she is, has a
chance of evolving on her own lines, a relatively high
standard of living without getting into all the difiSculties
and dangers which this mad race for economic or other
power has brought about. I am not anxious that everybody
in India should have a motor car or a washing machine or
a refrigerator. But I am very anxious that the right trend
should be encouraged.

Speeches (1953-57), p. 78: from speech at
National Development Council, New Delhi,
January 7, 1956.

143

SOCIALISM RIDS SOCIETY OF ITS
ACQUISITIVE TENDENCY

Much can be said about sociabsm, but I should like to stress
one thing. The whole of the capitalistic structure is based
on some kind of an acquisitive society. It may be that, to
some extent, the tendency to acquisitiveness is inherent in
us. A socialistic society must try to get rid of this tendency
to acquisitiveness and replace it by co-operation. You can-
not bring about this change by a sudden law. There have
to be long processes of training the people; without this you
caimot wholly succeed. Even from the very limited point of
view of changing your economic structure, apart from your
minds and hearts, it takes time to build up a socialist society.
The countries that have gone fastest have also taken time. I
would like you to consider that the Soviet Union, which has
gone fast in industrialization, has taken thirty-five years or
more over it. Chairman Mao of the People’s Republic of
China — ^which is more or less a Communist State — ^said,
about three or four years ago, that it would take China
twenty years to achieve some kind of Socialism. Mind you,
this in spite of the fact that theirs is an authoritarian State
and the people are exceedingly disciplined and industrious.
Chairman Mao was speaking as a practical idealist. We must
realize that the process of bringing socialism to India, especi-
ally in the way we are doing it, will inevitably take time.

Speeches (1953-57), pp. 52-3: from speech to
All India Congress Committee, Indore, Janu-
ary 4, 1957.

OUR OBJECTIVE IS A SOCIALISTIC PATTERN
OF SOCIETY

We have said that our objective is a socialistic pattern of
society. I do not propose to define precisely what socialism
means in this context because we wish to avoid any rigid or
doctrinaire thinking. Even in my life I have seen the world
change so much that I do not want to confine my mind to
any rigid dogma. But broadly speaking, what do we mean
when we say ‘socialist pattern of society’? We mean a soci-
ety in which there is equality of opportunity and the possi-

144

bility for everyone to live a good life. Obviously, this cannot
be attained unless we produce the wherewithal to have the
standards that a good Itfe implies. We have, therefore, to lay
great stress on equality, on the removal of disparities, and it
has to be remembered that socialism is not the spreading
out of poverty. The essential thing is that there must be
wealth and production.

Speeches (1953-57), p. 96: from speech in Lok
Sabha, New Delhi, May 23, 1956.

A CLASSLESS SOCIETY SHOULD BE OUR AIM

Our final aim can only be a classless society with equal econ-
omic justice and opportunity for all, a society organized on
a planned basis for the raising of mankind to higher material
and cultural levels, to a cultivation of spiritual values, of
co-operation, unselfishness, the spirit of service, the desire
to do right, goodwill and love — ^ultimately a world order.
Ever 3 d:hing that comes in the way will have to be removed,
gently if possibly, forcibly if necessary. And there seems to
be little doubt that coercion will often be necessary.

Autobiography, pp. 551-2.

SOCIALISM AND COMMUNISM

I believed more and more in Socialism. More and more even
in some parts of Communism; not the action but the theory
part of it; a Communist society somewhere in the future.
But I always conditioned it that the methods should be
peaceful, broadly speaking peaceful, and not wrong.
Whether the two can be synchronized or not it is difficult to
say. But I am deeply convinced that the methods in certain
Communist societies, that is too much coercion and suffer-
ing, are not the right methods.

Conversations With Mr. 'Nehru, pp. 31-2.

K

145

Freedom

FREEDOM IS OF THE MIND AND HEART

Freedom is not a mere matter of political decision or new
constitutions, not even a matter of what is more important,
that is, economic policy. It is of the mind and heart and
if the mind narrows itself and is befogged and the heart is
full of bitterness and hatred, then freedom is absent.

Independence and After, p. 10, from a mes-
sage from New Delhi on the First Anni-
versary of Independence, August 15, 1948.

FREEDOM SHOULD BE UNIVERSAL

The freedom that we envisage is not to be confined to this
nation or that or to a particular people, but must spread out
over the whole human race. That universal freedom cannot
also be based on the supremacy of any particular class. It
must be the freedom of the common man everywhere and
full of opportunities for him to develop.

Independence and After, p. 300: from speech
inaugurating the Asian Conference, New
Delhi, March 28, 1947.

FREEDOM SHOULD INCLUDE ECONOMIC
FREEDOM

We talk of freedom, but today political freedom does not
take us far unless there is economic freedom. Indeed, there
is no such thing as freedom for a man who is starving or
for a country which is poor.

Independence and After, p. 160: from a talk
broadcast from New Delhi, January 18, 1948.

146

FREEDOM IS A MEANS TO HUMAN
WELL-BEING

The form of government is after all a means to an end; even
freedom itself is a means, the end being human well-being,
human growth, the ending of poverty and disease and suf-
fering, and the opportunity for everyone to live the ‘good
life’ physically and mentally.

India and the World, p. 4,

FREEDOM RAISES THE ONDER-DOG

Mahatma Gandhi taught us to view our national struggle
always in terms of the under-privileged and those to whom
opportunity had been denied. Therefore, there was always
an economic facet to our political struggle for freedom. We
reahzed that there was no real freedom for those who suf-
fered continually from want and because there were millions
who lacked the barest necessities of existence in India, we
thought of freedom in terms of raising and bettering the lot
of these people. Having achieved political freedom, it is our
passionate desire to serve our people in this way and to
remove the many burdens they have carried for generations
past. Gandhi said on one occasion that it was his supreme
ambition to wipe every tear from every eye. That was ^
ambition beyond even his power to realize, for many mil-
hons of eyes have shed tears in India, in Asia and the rest
of the world; and perhaps it may never be possible com-
pletely to stop this imending flow of human want and mis-
ery and suffering; and what are politics and all our argu-
ments worth if they do not have this aim in view?

Speeches (1949-53), p. 420: from address de-
livered at the University of California, Octo-
ber 31, 1949.

NO SUCH THING AS ABSTRACT FREEDOM

The more I have thought about it, the more I have become
convinced that there is no such thing as abstract freedom.
Freedom is always accompanied by responsibility. Freedom
always entails an obligation, whether it is a nation’s free-

147

dom or an individual’s freedom.

Speeches (1953-57), p. 158: from speech in Lok
Sabha, New Delhi, March 28, 1957.

FREEDOM APPRECIATES OTHERS’ FREEDOM

Freedom demands respect for the freedom of others.

Independence and After, p. 26: from speech
on the occasion of the immersion of Mahatma
Gandhi’s ashes at the confluence of the
Ganges and the Jumna, Allahabad, February
12, 1948.

OPPOSITION MUST BE MET OPENLY,

N OT BY VIOLENCE

Civil liberty is not merely for us an airy doctrine or a pious
wish, but something which we consider essential for the
orderly development and progress of a nation. It is the
civilized approach to a problem about which people differ,
the non-violent way of dealing with it. To crush a contrary
opinion forcibly and allow it no expression, because we dis-
like it is essentially of the safe genus as cracking the skull
of an opponent because we disapprove of him. It does not
even possess the virtue of success. The man with the cracked
skull might collapse and die, but the suppressed opinion or
idea has no such sudden end and it survives and prospers
the more it is sought to be crushed with force. History is fuU
of such examples. Long experience has taught us that it is
dangerous in the interest of truth to suppress opinions and
ideas; it has further taught us that it is foolish to imagine
that we can do so. It is far easier to meet an evil in the
open and to defeat it in fair combat in people’s minds than
to drive it underground and have no hold on it or proper
approach to it.

The Unity of India, pp. 67-8.

A NATION THIRSTING FOR LIBERTY ACTS
P ECULIARLY

When the spirit of a nation breaks its bonds, it functions in

148

peculiar ways.

Independence and After, p. 361: from speech
in the Constituent Assembly, New Delhi, Jan-
uary 22, 1947.

THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION

The real test of the success of the Russian Revolution does
not lie in the theory, or in the courage and enthusiasm of
the people, or even in the greatness of Lenin. Nor can the
revolution be said to have been a failure because the Bol-
sheviks ruthlessly exterminated their opponents and coun-
tered the white terror with the red. The real test of success
can only be the measure of happiness of the masses of the
people. It is partly a question of psychology, but partly also
of material conditions, and facts and figures. It is not easy
to judge the psychology of a people without the most inti-
mate fiiowledge. It may be that freedom from oppression is
preferable even though it results in a diminuation of mater-
ial well-being for a time; and visitors to Russia tell us that
in the early years of the revolution when civil war and the
blockade had brought the population to the verge of starva-
tion, the new freedom more than compensated for the suffer-
ing and lack of food and all comforts.

Societ Russia, pp. 49-50.

149

Democracy

DEMOCRACY

Democracy to be successful must have a backgroimd of in-
formed public opinion and a sense of responsibility.

Autobiography, p. 145.

DEMOCRACY THE BEST FORM OF
GOVERNMENT

Democracy is the best of all the various methods available
to us for the governance of human beings.

The Unity of India, p, 116.

DEMOCRACY INCONSISTENT WITH MATERIAL
INEQUALITY

No democracy can exist for long in the midst of want and
poverty and inequality.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 399: from address at
the Columbia University, New York, October
17, 1949.

DEMOCRACY DEMANDS SELF-DISCIPLINE

You may define democracy in a hundred ways but surely
one of its definitions is self-discipline of the community.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 472: from speech at the
AU India Newspaper Editors' Conference,
New Delhi, September 17, 1952.

MAJORITY NOT ALWAYS RIGHT

We talk a great deal about democracy but in its present
shape and form it is a relatively new concept. The old type

150

of democi-acy was a limited one in many ways. Now we
suffrage and the biggest electorate in the world.
With all my admiration and love for democracy, I am not
prepared to accept the statement that the largest number of
people are always right.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 252; from speech in
Parliament, New Delhi, February 18, 1953.

democracy demands a sense of

RESPONSIBILITY

Democracy does not simply mean shouting loudly and per-
sistently, though that might occasionally have some value.
Freedom and democracy require responsibility and certain
standards of behaviour and self-discipline.

The Unity of India, p. 112.

WHY INDIA HAS CHOSEN DEMOCRACY

We have definitely accepted the democratic process. Why
have we accepted it? Well, for a variety of reasons. Because
we think that in the final analysis it promotes the growth
of human beings and of society; because, as we have said
in our Constitution, we attach great value to individual free-
dom; because we want the creative and adventurous spirit
of man to grow. It is not enough for us merely to produce
the material goods of the world. We do want high standards
of living, but not at the cost of man s creative spirit, his
creative energy, his spirit of adventure; not at the cost of
all those fine things of life which have ennobled man
throughout the ages. Democracy is not merely a question
of elections.

Speeches (1953-57), p. 53: from speech at the
All-India Congress Committee at Indore, Jan-
uary 4, 1957.

democracy means tolerance of our

OPPONENTS

Democracy means tolerance, tolerance not merely of those
who agree with us, but of those who do not agree with us.

151

With the coming of freedom our patterns of behaviour must
change so as to fit in with this freedom.

Independence and After, p. 217: from speech
at the Constituent Assembly, New Delhi,
March 8, 1948.

INDIA STANDS FOR DEMOCRACY

We Stand in this country for democracy, for an independent.
Sovereign India. Now obviously, anything that is opposed to
the democratic concept — ^the real, essentially democratic
concept, which includes not only political but economic
democracy — ^we ought to oppose. We will resist the imposi-
tion of any other concept here or any other practice.

Independence and After, p. 217: from speech
at the Constituent Assembly, New Delhi,
March 8, 1948.

INDIA OPPOSES TOTALITARIANISM

In the world-wide conflict of ideas and politics, India stands
for democracy and against Fascism and the totalitarian state.
She stands for peace and co-operation between nations and
ultimately the building up of a world order.

The Unity of India, pp. 23-4.

DEMOCRACY GIVES BIRTH TO THE HIGHEST
HUMAN VALUES

We have to build India according to democratic methods.
We have decided to do so because we feel that democracy
offers society something of the highest human values. But
war put an end to the very values that democracy cherishes.
Democracy, in fact, is a casualty of war in the world today.
It does not seem to function properly any more. That has
been the tragedy of the last two world wars and something
infinitely worse is likely to happen if there is another war.

Speeches (1949-53), pp. 252-3: from speech in
Parliament, New Delhi, February 18, 1953.

152

METHOD OF DEMOCKACY

The method of democracy is discussion, argument, per-
suasion and ultimate decision and acceptance of that
decision even though it might go against our grain. Other-
wise the bigger lathi or the bigger bomb prevails and that
is not the democratic method. The problem is the same
whether atomic bombs are involved or street demonstra-
tions. I do not object to demonstrations, but I object to their
violence.

Speeches (1953-57), p. 178: from speech in the
Lok Sabha, New Delhi, December 21, 1955.

A VOTE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOB FOOD FOR
A HUNGRY MAN

It is obvious that a vote by itself does not mean very much
to a person who is down and out and starving. Such a person
will be much more interested in food to eat than in a vote.

Speeches (1953-57), p. 138: from speech at
Trichur, December 26, 1955.

PARLIAMENTARY DEMOCRACY

Parliamentary democracy demands many virtues. It de-
mands, of course, ability. It demands a certain devotion to
work. But it demands also a large measure of co-operation,
of self-discipline, of restraint. Parliamentary democracy is
not something which can be created in a country by some

magic wand Parliamentary democracy naturally involves

peaceful methods of action, peaceful acceptance of decisions
taken and attempts to change them through peaceful ways
again.

Speeches ('1953-57), p. 156: from speech in
Lok Sabha, New Delhi, March 28, 1957.

A GOVERNMENT CANNOT CONQUER AN
INDIVIDUAL

A democratic government in the ultimate analysis functions
largely with the goodwill of the people and with their co-

153

operation. It cannot go very much again.st them. Even an
autocratic government has to have a measure of goodwill,
it cannot function without it. In the ultimate analysis, a
government functions because of certain sanctions which it
has and which are represented by its army or police force.
If the government is in line with the thought of a majority
of the people, it is a democratic government and only a very
small minority of the people will feel its pressure. Now, if
an individual refuses to be afraid of these sanctions, what is
the government to do about it? It may put him in prison.
He is not afraid; he welcomes it. He may be, if you like, shot
down. He is not afraid of facing death. Well, then a govern-
ment has to face a crisis; that is, a government, in spite of
its great power, cannot really conquer an individual. It may
kill him but it does not overcome him. That is failure on the
part of the government. A government, which is essentially
based — ^apart from the other factors which I have men-
tioned — ^upon the sanctions it has, comes up against some-
thing — ^the spirit of man which refuses to be afraid of those
sanctions.

Speeches (1949-53), pp. 405-6; from address at

the University of Chicago, October 27, 1949.

DEMOCBA.CY A GREAT LEVELLER

Democracy is, on the whole, a great leveller.

Speeches (1953-57), p. 481: from an interview
to All India Radio on May 6, 1956.

154

Government and Politics

GOVERNMENT DIVORCED FROM THE PEOPLE

A government divorced from the people cannot get a popu-
lar response which is so essential; much less can a foreign
government, which is inevitably disliked and distrusted, do
so.

A Bunch of Old Letters, p. 470: from letter to
Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of U.S.A.,
dated April 12, 1942.

PROPHETS AND POLITICIANS

There is always a great difference between a prophet and a
politician in their approach to a problem. We had .the com-
bination of a prophet and a great statesman; but then we
are not prophets nor are we very great in our statesman-
ship. All we can say is that we should do our utmost to live
up as far as we can to that standard, but always judging a
problem by the light of our own intelligence, otherwise we
will all fail. There is the grave danger, on the one hand, of
denying the message of the prophet, and on the other, of
blindly following it and missing all its vitality. We have,
therefore, to steer a middle course through these. Then a
politician or a statesman, or call him what you will, has to
deal not only with the truth, but with men’s receptivity of
that truth, because if there is not sufficient response to it
from the politician’s or statesman’s point of view, that truth
is banished into the wilderness till minds are ripe for it. And
certainly a statesman cannot act and much less can he act in
a democratic age, unless he can make people believe in that
truth. So unfortunately, but inevitably, compromises have to
take place from time to time. You cannot do without com-
promises, but a compromise is a bad compromise if it is
opportunist in the sense that it is not always aiming at the

155

trutH. It may te a good compromise if it is always looking
at that truth and trying to take you there.

Independence and After, pp. 234-5: from
speech in the Constituent Assembly, New
Delhi, March 8, 1949.

PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Public affairs involve principles and policies. They also in-
volve an understanding of each other and faith in the bona-
fides of colleagues. If this understanding and faith are
lacking, it is very difficult to co-operate with advantage.

A Bunch of Old Letters, p. 315: from letter
to Sarat Chandra Bose dated March 24, 1939.

.SUCCESSFUL WORKING OF GOVERNMENT
DEPENDS ON PEOPLE’S CO-OPERATION

A government which deals with vital social problems has to
function very differently from a government which is essen-
tially a police state. A police state has only to keep the peace,
to collect revenue, more or less, and do a few other little
jobs. Today, we have to tackle intricate social and economic
problems. Those problems cannot be tackled by a firman
or ukase or a decree from the government. There must be
right laws. I agree that government activity must be right
and ought to be right. But in such economic matters govern-
mental activity goes only thus far. It is the activity of the
people, it is the temper of the people, and the co-operation
that the people in general give that will solve these prob-
lems this way or that. And I tell you that the best of our
laws or activities of the government can be, if not nullified,
lessened greatly in effect if there is no will to work in the
people or to co-operate to that end. And I tell you also that
even an enfeebled government, even a bad political govern-
ment can yield greater results in the country if people co-
operate to that end.

Independence and After, p. 316: from speech
at Silver Jubilee Convocation of Lucknow Uni-
versity, January 28, 1949.

156

ATTRIBUTES OF STATESMANSHIP

Perspective and vision are essential attributes of statesman-
ship.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 316: from speech in
Parliament, New Delhi, August 11, 1951,

THE OLD INDIAN IDEA OF KINGSHIP

I have told you on several occasions what the old Indian
idea of kingship was. From the old Aiy'an days to Ashoka’s
time, and from the Arthasastra to the Nitisara of Sukrach-
arya, it is repeatedly stated that the King must bow down
to public opinion. It is the public that is the ultimate master.
This was the Indian theor\', although in practice Kings in
India, like elsewhere, were autocratic enough. Compare this
to the old European view. According to the lawyers of those
days the Emperor had absolute authority. His will was law.
‘The Emperor is the living law upon earth’, they said. Fred-
eric Barabarossa himself said, ‘It is not for the people to
give laws to the prince, but to obey his command’.

Glimpses of World History, Vol. I, p. 310.

LOVE OF THE PEOPLE A MOST PRECIOUS
THING

You may have many gifts and presents but there is nothing
more precious than the love and the affection of the people.

Independence and After, p. 369: from speech
at a banquet to Lord and Lady Mountbatten
on their departure from India, New Delhi,
June 20, 1948.

URGES OF THE COMMON PEOPLE SHOULD BE

HEEDED

No government can afford to ignore the urges of the com-
mon people. After all, democracy has its basis on those very
urges and if any government flouts them, it is pushed aside
and other governments take it over.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 20: from address at the
Indian Chemical Manufacturers’ Association,
New Delhi, December 26, 1950.

157

THE CONSTITUTION

The Constitution is after all some kind of legal body given
to the ways of governments and the life of a people. A Con-
stitution, if it is out of touch with the people’s life, aims and
aspirations, becomes rather empty; if it falls behind those
aims, it drags the people down. It should be something
ahead to keep people’s eyes and minds up to a certain high
mark. . . . We should not, as some other great countries
have, make a Constitution so rigid that it cannot be easily
adapted to changing conditions. Today, especially, when
the world is in turmoil and we are passing through a very
swift period of transition, what we do today may not be
wholly applicable tomorrow. Therefore, while we make a
Constitution which is sound and as basic as we can make
it, it should also be flexible and for a period we should be
in a position to change it with relative facility.

Independence and After, p. 375: from speech
in the Constituent Assembly, New Delhi,
November 8, 1948.

INDIA SHOULD NOT IMITATE OTHER
PATTERNS

I shall have little respect for India if it followed bHndly the
American pattern or the Russian pattern or the Chinese or
the British. Then it would not be India but a pale imitation
of somebody else. That does not mean that I do not respect
the American, British or other patterns. What I say is that
we shall have to function according to our thinking. What
is the good of an individual who does not have an integrated
personality, who merely copies something or somebody else
— ^much more so a nation which just copies?

Speeches (1953-57), p. 276: from statement at
a Press Conference, New Delhi, November 13,
1954.

CONSTITUTIONS ARE MADE FOR HUMAN
BEINGS

Many of our politicians, learned in the law, think and talk

158

of constitutions and the like, forgetting the human beings
for whom constitutions and laws are made.

Glimpses of World History, Vol. I, p. 568.

SERVICE OF THE COMMON MAN IS THE
PARAMOUNT DUTY AT PRESENT

Equally important is the service of the common man in India
who has suffered so much in the past. His claims must be
paramount and everything that comes in the way of his
betterment must have second place. Not merely from moral
and humanitarian grounds but also from the point of view
of pohtical commonsense, has it become essential to raise
the standard of the common man and to give him full oppor-
tunity of progress. A social structure which denies him this
opportunity stands self -condemned and must be changed.

Independence and After, p. 31: from a talk
broadcast from New Delhi, February 14, 1948.

THE DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS TO RULE MEN
IS OBSOLETE

It is a scandalous thing for any man to say, however highly
placed he may be, that he is here by special divine dispensa-
tion to rule over human beings today. That is a thing which
is an intolerable presumption on any man’s part. We have
heard a lot about this Divine Right of Kings: we have read
a lot about it in past histories and we thought that we had
heard the last of it and that it had been put an end to and
buried deep down in the earth long ages ago.

Independence and After, p. 356: from speech
in the Constituent Assembly, New Delhi,
January 22, 1947.

THE RULE OF LAW

The rule of law cannot go off at a tangent from life’s prob-
lems and be an answer to problems which existed yesterday
and are not so important today. Law by its very nature
tended to be static but should not be so as nothing can be
static in a changing world. While the basic principles might

159

[NDIA A FRIEN0 TO ALL NATIONS

We are not hostile to any country and we do not want to
meddle in other people’s affairs. Every nation should be
free to choose the path it considers best. We do not wish to
interfere with the freedom of other nations and we expect
them to feel the same about our freedom. That is why we
have decided not to join any of the power blocs in the world.
We will remain aloof and try to be friendly to all. We intend
to progrciss according to our own ideas. We have decided to
follow this policy, not only because it is essentially sound
from our countr\'’s point of view but also because it seems
to be the only way to seiwe the cause of world peace.
Another world war will spell ruin and we shall not escape
the general disaster. We are determined to make every pos-
sible effort in the cause of peace. That explains our present
foreign policy.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 8: from speech at the

Red Fort, Delhi, August 15, 1949.

INDIA TAKES AN INDIVIDUAL STAND

India is too big a country herself to be bound down to any
country, however big it may be. India is going to be and is
bound to be a country that counts in world affairs, not I
hope in the military' sense, but in many other senses which
are more important and effective in the end. Any attempt on
our part, that is the Government of the day here, to go too
far in one direction would create difficulties in our own
countiy'. It would be resented and we would produce con-
flicts in our own country which would not be helpful to us
or to any other country. While remaining quite apart from
power blocs, we are in a far better position to cast our weight
at the right moment in favour of peace, and meanwhile our
relations can become as close as possible in the economic or
other domain with such countries with whom we can easily
develop them. So it is not a question of our remaining isol-
ated or cut off from the rest of the world. We do not wish
to be isolated. We wish to have the closest contacts, because
we do from the beginning firmly believe in the world com-
ing closer together and ultimately realizing the ideal of what
is now being called One World, But India, we are convinced,

162

can help in that process far more by taking an individual
stand and acting according to her own wishes whenever
any crisis arises than by merging herself with others and
getting tied up in hard and fast rules.

Independence and After, p, 257: from speech
at the Indian Council of World Affairs, New
Delhi, March 22, 1949.

INDIA FOLLOWS A POSITIVE AND VITAL
POLICY

I am asked frequently why India does not align herself with
a particular nation or a group of nations and told that be-
cause we have refrained from doing so we are sitting on
the fence. The question and the comment are easily under-
stood, because in times of crisis it is not unnatoal for those
who are involved in it deeply to regard calm objectivity in
others as irrational, short-sighted, negative, unreal or even
unmanly. But I should like to make it clear that the policy
India has sought to pursue is not a negative and neutral
policy. It is a positive and a vital policy that flows from
our struggle for freedom and from the teachings of Mahatma
Gandhi. Peace is not only an absolute necessity for us in
India in order to progress and develop but is also of para-
mount importance to the world. How can that peace be pre-
served? Not by surrendering to aggression, not by comprom-
ising with evil or injustice but also not by talking and pre-
paring for war! Aggression has to be met, for it endangers
peace. At the same time, the lesson of the last two wars has
to be remembered and it seems to me asto nishing that, in
spite of that lesson, we go the same way. The very process
of marshalling the world into two hostile camps precipitates
the conflict which it has sought to avoid. It produces a sense
of terrible fear and that fear darkens men s minds and leads
them into wrong courses. There is perhaps nothing so bad
and dangerous in life as fear. As a great President of the
United States said, there is nothing really to fear except
fear itself.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 398: from address at the
Columbia University, New York, October 17,
1949,

163

INTERFEBENCE NOT IN CONSONANCE WITH

India’s dignity

I have come more and more to the conclusion that the less
we interfere in international conflicts the better, unless, of
course, our own interest is involved, for the simple reason
that it is not in consonance with our dignity just to interfere
without producing any effect. We should be either strong
enough to produce some effect or we should not interfere
at all. I am not anxious to put my finger in every inter-
national pie.

Independence and After, p. 215: from speech
in the Constituent Assemblv, New Delhi,
March 8, 1948.

THE COLD WAR

The greatest danger which the world is facing is the cold
war. The cold war creates a bigger mental barrier than brick
walls or iron curtains do. It creates barriers of the mind
which prevent the understanding of the other person’s posi-
tion, which divide the world into devils and angels. We can
take it that all of us have something angelic in us, some-
thing divine in us, but also that we have a good deal of the
Satan in us. Whether we are a country or an individual, we
should try out the good in ourselves and take the good from
others and thereby suppress the evil aspects.

Speeches (1953-57), p. 45: from speech in Lok
Sabha, November 20, 1956.

India’s foreign policy ensures
friendship with all nations

The problems we have to face in world affairs at the present
moment bear a great deal of relation to the conflicts that
are going on. We have stated repeatedly that our foreign
policy is one of keeping aloof from the big blocks of nations
— ^rival blocks — ^and being friendly to all countries and not
becoming entangled in any alliances, military or other, that
might drag us into any possible conflict. Some people have
criticized and suggested to us that that is not a good enough

164

policy; and that we are losing what we might get by a
closer association or alhance. Others, on the other hand,
have criticized us by saying that while we say one thing,
we act secretly or otherwise in another way. It is a httle
difficult, of course, to give an answer to an imputation of
motives, but as a matter of fact we have very strictly fol-
lowed the policy of not getting entangled in any kind of com-
mitment, certainly not military commitment, with any other
power or group of powers, and we propose to adhere to that
policy, because we are quite convinced that that is the only
possible policy for us at present and in the future. That does
not, on the other hand, involve any lack of close relation-
ships with other countries.

Independence and After, p. 239: from speech
in the Constituent Assembly, New Delhi,
March 8, 1949.

INDIA CAN BE OF MORE SERVICE BY
AVOIDING POWER BLOCS

May I say that I do not for an instant claim any superior
vantage point for India to advise or criticize the rest of the
world? I think we are merely trying not to get excited about
these problems and anyhow there is no reason why we
should not try. It follows, therefore, that we should not align
ourselves with what are called power blocs. We can be of
far more service without doing so and I think there is just
a possibihty — and I shall not put it higher than that — ^that
at a moment of crisis, our peaceful and friendly efforts
might make a difference and avert that crisis. If so, it is well
worth trying.

Independence and After, pp. 256-7: from
speech at the Indian Council of World Affairs,
New Delhi, March 22, 1949.

ISOLATION OF INDIA FROM WORLD AFFAIRS

It would be unrealistic to believe that India could remain
aloof from world affairs. India cannot be isolated because
in the world today no country, big or small, can be itself

165

apart.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 116: from address in
the House of Representatives and the Senate,
Washington, D.G., October 13, 1949.

I do not wish my country merely to copy another, because
in whatever direction we may grow we must grow out of
the roots from which oiu: nation draws sustenance and fol-
low the genius of our people. Nevertheless I feel that we
can leam a great deal from the United States of America as
well as from other countries of the West and we should take
every opportunity of doing so. If India is to grow and prosper
she cannot do so by sticking only to her roots and isolating
herself from the rest of the world. Therefore, we must strike
a balance between the two extremes and then only can we
make good.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 146: from speech in
Parliament, New Delhi, March 17, 1950.

India is a country with a tremendous vitality which it has
shown through its history. It has often enough imposed its
own cultural pattern on other countries, not by force of
arms, but by the strength of her vitality, culture and civil-
ization. There is no reason why we should give up our way
of doing things, our way of considering things, simply
because of some particular ideology which emanates from
Emrope. I have no doubt at all that we have to leam a great
deal from Europe and America and I think that we should
keep our eyes and our ears completely open. We should be
flexible in mind and we should be receptive, but I also have
no doubt at all that we should not allow ourselves, if I may
use the words of Gandhiji, we must not allow any vrfnd
from an>’where to sweep us off our feet.

Independence and After, p. 241: from speech
in the Constituent Assembly, New Delhi,
March 8, 1949.

BARBARISM HAS TO BE RESISTED IN A
CIVILIZED WAY

I spoke this morning about the hydrogen bomb and I said

166

that it was something that could destroy mankind. It amazes
me that some people should talk lightly of it. I have felt for
some time that, however disastrous the hydrogen bomb may
be, it is, nevertheless, preferable to the kind of thing we
have seen and heard of in recent months. Let the world be
utterly destroyed but let us not continue to live as brutes
and beasts, ever sinking to lower levels. That is a challenge
to this generation, a challenge to this House and to
this Government. Are you going to fight the spread of
beastliness and the barbarism that is overcoming us? You
cannot fight evil with evil; you cannot fight barbarism with
barbarism. You have to take up a civilized position and
resist brutishness with all your might. Of course, we feel
strongly about the people of East Bengal but we must real-
ize our responsibility to them and in helping them try to
find ways and means which are civilized and which adhere
to the ideals we have held.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 285: from speech in
Parliament, New Delhi, March 17, 1950.

INDIA IS OLD IN WISDOM AND YOUNG AT

HEART

India may be new to world politics and her military strength
insignificant in comparison with that of the giants of our
epoch. But India is old in thought and experience and has
travelled through trackless centuries in the adventure of life.
Throughout her long history she has stood for peace and
every prayer that an Indian raises ends with an invocation
to peace. It was out of this ancient and yet young India that
Mahatma Gandhi arose and he taught us a technique of
action that was peaceful; yet it was effective and yielded
results that led us not only to freedom but to friendship with
those with whom we were, till yesterday, in conflict. How
far can that principle be applied to wider spheres of action?
I do not know, for circumstances differ and the means to
prevent evil have to be shaped and set to the nature of tlie
evil. Yet I have no doubt that the basic approach which lay
behind that technique of action was the right approach in
human affairs and the only approach that ultimately solves a
problem satisfactorily. We have to achieve freedom and to

167

defend it. We have to meet aggression and to resist it and
the force employed must be adequate to the purpose. But
even preparing to resist aggression, the ultimate objective,
the objective of peace and reconciliation, must never be lost
sight of and heart and mind must be attuned to this supreme
aim and not swayed or clouded by hatred or fear.

Speeches (1949-53), pp. 124-5: from address at
the East and West Association, etc.. New
York, October 19, 1949.

NON-ALIGNMENT IS INDIa’s POLICY

The preservation of peace forms the central aim of India’s
policy. It is in the pursuit of this policy that we have chosen
the path of non-alignment in any military pact or like pact
or alliance. Non-alignment does not mean passivity of mind
or action, lack of faith or conviction. It does not mean sub-
mission to what we consider evil. It is a positive and dyn-
amic approach to such problems as confront us. We believe
that each country has the right not only to freedom but
also to decide its own policy and way of life. Only thus can
true freedom flourish and a people grow according to their
own genius. We believe therefore in non-aggression and
non-interference by one country in the affairs of another and
the growth of tolerance between them and the capacity for
peaceful co-existence. We think that by the free exchange
of ideas and trade and other contacts between nations, each
will learn from the other and trust will prevail. We, there-
fore, endeavour to maintain friendly relations with all coun-
tries even though we may disagree with them in their poli-
cies or structure of government. We think that by this
approach we can serve not only our country but also the
larger cause of peace and good fellowship in the world.

Speeches (1953-57), p. 49: from Television and
Radio Address, Washington, U.S.A., Decem-
ber 18, 1956.

WAH EMANATES FROM MEN’s MINDS

In the ultimate analysis the roots of war are in the minds
of people. How can there be war if it is not in the hearts

168

and minds of people? A very great Indian had said 2,500
years ago that there should be only such wars in which
everyone is the victor and there is none vanquished. He
meant that everyone should be a victor and everyone should
benefit. This cannot take place by a war of arms.

The Hindu, February 13, 1960: from speech at
a Civic Reception to Mr. Kruschev, New
Delhi.

169

The Renascence of Asia

THE RENASCENCE OF ASIA

A change of supreme importance has now come over the
world scene and this is the renascence of Asia. Perhaps,
when the history of our times comes to be written, the re-
entry of this old continent of Asia — ^which has seen so many
ups and downs — into world politics will be the most out-
standing fact of this and the next generation. All the world
is concerned with this but more particularly the United
States, because of her geographical and pivotal position,
apart from the great power that she wields in world affairs
today.

The world is full of unsolved problems today; perhaps, all
of them can be considered as parts of one single problem.
This problem cannot be solved imless the full implication of
the renaissance of Asia is kept in mind, for Asia will inevit-
ably play an ever growing part in world affairs. Asia,
arrested in her growth, faces this world problem in two of
its major aspects — ^political and economic. The political
problem, that is, the achievement of political freedom, has a
certain priority because without it no effective progress is
possible. But owing to the delay in the achievement of polit-
ical freedom, the economic problem has become equally
important and urgent. National freedom is thus the first
essential in Asia and, although most of the countries of Asia
have achieved this, some stiU remain under colonial domin-
ation. These relics of foreign rule will have to go, giving
place to national freedom, thus satisfying nationalism, which
is the predominant urge of Asian peoples. The economic
betterment of the vast masses of Asia is equally essential,
both from their point of view and from the point of view of
world peace and stability. This will involve a progressive
industrialization of these countries and in this the United
States can play a vital role.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 419: from address at the

University' of California, October 31, 1949,

170

ASIAN COUNTRIES KEEN ON MUTUAL
CO-OPERATION

So you see something working in the mind of Asia, not only
in India but all over Asia. You find something germinating
and whenever you give it a chance to come out, it comes
out. We are convinced that there is a keen desire on the
part of Asian countries to work togetlier, to confer together
and generally to look to each other. Possibly, this may be
due to a certain resentment against the behaviour of Europe
in the past. Undoubtedly, it was partly also a feeling that
the Asian countries might still be e.Kploited or dominated by
Europe or the countries elsewhere. But it was also, I think,
largely due to a certain flow-back in memory of our ancient
contacts, for our literature is full of them.

Independence and After, p. 250: from speech
at the Indian Coimcil of World Affairs, New
Delhi, March 22, 1949.

ASIA NOT BETTER THAN EUROPE MORALLY
OR ETHICALLY

I do not mean to say that we in Asia are in any way superior,
ethically or morally, to the people of Europe. In some ways
I imagine we are worse. There is, however, a legacy of con-
flict in Europe. In Asia, at the present moment at least,
there is no such legacy. The countries of Asia may have their
quarrels with their neighbours here and there, but there is
no basic legacy of conflict such as the countries of Europe
possess. That is a very great advantage for Asia and it would
be folly in the extreme for the countries of Asia, for India
to be dragged in the wake of the conflicts in Europe. We
might note that the world progressively tends to become
one — one in peace and it is likely to be one, in a sense of
war. No man can say that any country can remain apart
when there is a major conflagration. But still one can direct
one’s policy towards avoiding this conflict and being en-
tangled in it.

Independence and After, p. 232: from speech
in the Constituent Assembly, New Delhi,
March 8, 1949.

171

ASIA A POWERFUL INFLUENCE FOR WORLD

PEACE

In this crisis in world history Asia will necessarily play a
vital role. The countries of Asia can no longer be used as
pawns by others; they are bound to have their own policies
in world affairs. Europe and America have contributed very
largely to human progress and for that we must yield them
praise and honour, and learn from them the many lessons
they have to teach. But the West has also driven us into wars
and conflicts without number and even now, the day after a
terrible war, there is talk of fmrther wars in the atomic age
that is upon us. In this atomic age Asia will have to function
effectively in the maintenance of peace. Indeed, there can
be no peace unless Asia plays her part. There is today con-
flict in many countries, and all of us in Asia are full of our
own troubles. Nevertheless, the whole spirit and outlook of
Asia are peaceful, and the emergence of Asia in world affairs
will be a powerful influence for world peace.

Independence and After, pp. 298-9: from
speech inaugurating the Asian Conference at
New Delhi, March 23, 1947.

ASIA-EUROPE RELATIONS A MAJOR
QUESTION

One of the major questions of the day is the readjustment
of the relations between Asia and Europe. When we talk of
Asia, remember that India, not because of any ambition of
hers, but because of the force of circumstances, because of
geography, because of history, and because of so many other
things, inevitably has to play a very important part in Asia.
And not only that; India becomes a kind of meeting ground
for various trends and forces and a meeting ground between
what might roughly be called the East and the West.

Look at the map. If you have to consider any question
affecting the Middle East, India inevitably comes into the
picture. If you have to consider any question concerning
South-East Asia, you cannot do so without India. So also
with the Far East. While the Middle East may not be dir-
ectly connected with South-East Asia, both are connected
with India. Even if you think in terms of regional organiz-

172

ations in Asia, you have to keep in touch with other regions.
And whatever region you may have in mind, the importance
of India cannot be ignored.

In the past, especially by virtue of her economic and poli-
tical domination, the West ignored Asia, or at any rate did
not give her the weight that was due to her. Asia was really
given a back seat and one unfortunate result of it was that
even the statesmen did not recognize tlie changes that were
taking place. There is, I believe, a considerable recognition
of these changes now, but it is not enough yet. Even in the
Councils of the United Nations, the problems of Asia, the
outlook of Asia, the approach of Asia have failed to evoke
the enthusiasm that they should. There are many ways of
distinguishing between what may be called the approach of
Asia and the approach of Europe. Asia today is pr imari ly
concerned with what may be called the immediate human
problems. In each country of Asia — ^under-developed coun-
tries, more or less — the main problem is the problem of food,
of clothing, of education, of health. We are concerned with
these problems. We are not directly concerned with prob-
lems of power politics. Some of us, in our minds, may per-
haps think of that.

Europe, on the other hand, is also concerned with these
problems, no doubt, in the devastated regions. Europe has
a legacy of conflicts of power, and of problems which come
from the possession of power. They have the fear of losing
that power and the fear of some one else getting greater
power and attacking one country or the other. So that the
European approach is a legacy of the past conflicts of
Europe.

Independence and After, pp. 231-2: from
speech in the Constituent Assembly, New
Delhi, March 8, 1949.

THE PHILOSOPHY OF ASIA

The philosophy of Asia has been and is the philosophy of
peace.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 128: from speech at the
Canadian Parliament, Ottawa, October 24,
1949.

173

ASIA NOT CONCERNED WITH CONFLICTS OF
WESTERN NATIONS

I wish to speak no ill of anybody. In Asia, all of us have
many faults, as countries and as individuals. Our past his-
tor\’^ shows that. Nevertheless, I say that Europe has been
in the past a continent full of conflicts, full of trouble, full
of hatred. Europe’s conflicts continue, its wars continue, and
we have been dragged into these wars because we were tied
to Europe’s chariot wheels. Are we going to continue to be
tied to Europe’s troubles, Europe’s hatreds and Europe’s
conflicts?

Of course, Europe and Asia and America are all dependent
on one another. It is not right to think in terms of isolation
in this modem world. Nevertheless Europe and some other
great countries, whatever their political persuasion may be,
have got into tlie habit of thinking that their quarrels are
the world’s quarrels and that therefore the world must sub-
mit to them. I do not follow that reasoning. I do not want
anybody to quarrel in Asia, Europe or America, but if the
others quarrel, why should I quarrel and why should I be
dragged into their quarrels and wars?

Speeches (1953-57), p. 290: from address at the
Asia-African Conference, Bandung, Indo-
nesia, April 24, 1955.

174

Prison life

PRISON LIFE

The years I have spent in prison! Sitting alone, vs^rapped in
my thoughts, how many seasons I have seen go hy, follow-
ing each other into oblivion! How many moons I have
watched wax and wane, and the pageant of tlie stars moving
along inexorably and majestically! How many yesterdays of
my youth lie buried here; and sometimes I see the ghosts
of these dead yesterdays rise up, bringing poignant mem-
ories, and whispering to me: ‘Was it worth while?’ There
is no hesitation about the answer. If I were given the chance
to go through my life again, with my present knowledge
and experience added, I would no doubt try to make many
changes in my personal hfe: I would endeavour to improve
in many ways on what I had previously done but my major
decisions in public affairs would remain untouched. Indeed,
I could not vary them, for they were stronger than myself,
and a force beyond my control drove me to them.

Autobiography, p. 598.

MUSINGS ON THE PAST IN PRISON

Prison and its attendant solitude and passivity lead to
thought and an attempt to fill the vacuum of life with mem-
ories of past living, of one’s own life, and of the long chain
of history of human activity. So during the past four months,
in the course of this writing, I have occupied my mind with
India’s past records and experience, and out of the multi-
tude of ideas that came to me I have selected some and
made a book out of them. Looking back at what I have
written, it seems inadequate, disjointed and lacking in unity,
a mixture of many things, with the personal element domin-
ant and giving its colour even to what was intended to be
an objective record and analysis. That personal element has
pushed itself forward almost against my will; often I checked

175

it and held it back, but sometimes I loosened the reins and
allowed it to flow out of my pen, and mirror, to some extent,
my mind.

By writing of the past I have tried to rid myself of the
burden of the past. But the present remains with aU its com-
plexity and irrationability, and the dark future that lies
beyond, and the burden of these is no less than that of the
pak. The vagrant mind, finding no haven, still wanders
about restlessly, bringing discomfort to its possessor as well
as to others. There is some envy for those virgin minds who
have not been soiled or violated by thought’s assault, and
on which doubt has cast no shadow nor written a line. How
easy is life for them in spite of its occasional shock and
pain!

The Discovery of India, pp. 581-2.

A PERIOD IN PRISON IS EDUCATIVE

I am beginning to believe that a period in prison is a very
desirable part of one’s education.

Glimpses of World History, Vol. I, p. 3,

TIME IN PRISON

Time seems to change its nature in prison. The present
hardly exists for there is an absence of feeling and sensation
which might separate it from the dead past. Even news of
the active, living and dying world outside has a certain
dream-like unreality, an immobility and an unchangeable-
ness as of the past. The outer objective time ceases to be, the
inner and subjective sense remains but at a lower level,
except when thought pulls it out of the present and experi-
ences a kind of reality in the past or in the future. We live,
as Auguste Comte said, dead men’s lives, encased in our
pasts, but this is especially so in prison where we try to
find some sustenance for our starved and locked-up emotions
in memory of the past or fancies of the future.

The Discovery of India, p. 7.

‘lifers’

High walls and prison gates cut off the little world of prison

176

from the wide world outside. Here in this prison world every-
thing is difiFerent; there are no colours, no changes, no move-
ment, no hope, no joy for the long-term prisoner, the ‘lifer’.
Life runs its dull round with a terrible monotony; it is all
flat desert land with no high points and no oases to quench
one’s thirst or shelter one from the burning heat. Days run
into weeks, and weeks into months and years till the sands
of life run out.

All the might of the State is against him and none of the
ordinary checks are available. Even the voice of pain is
hushed, the cry of agony cannot be heard beyond the high
walls. In theory there are some checks and visitors and
ofBcials from outside go to inspect. But it is rare for a
prisoner to dare to complain to them, and those who dare
have to sufiEer for their daring. The visitor goes, the petty
gaol oflBcials remain, and it is with them that he has to pass
his days. It is not surprising that he prefers to put up with
his troubles rather than risk an addition to them.

India and the World, pp. 115-16.

ANIMALS IN PRISON

I came in contact with animals far more in prison than I
had done outside. I had always been fond of dogs, and had
kept some, but I could never look after them properly as
other matters claimed my attention. In prison I was grateful
for their company, Indians, do not, as a rule, approve of ani-
mals as household pets. It is remarkable that in spite of their
general philosophy of non-violence to animals, they are
often singularly careless and unkind to them. Even the cow,
that favoured animal, though looked up to and almost wor-
shipped by many Hindus and often the cause of riots, is not
treated kindly. Worship and kindliness do not always go
together.

Autobiographif, pp. 358-9.

SOVIET PRISON S

The governor of the prison informed me that the idea under-
lying the prison system was not to punish or make an ex-
ample of the ofFender but to separate him from society and

177

M

improve him by making him work in a disciplined manner.
Indeed the very word prison’ was not favoured as it sav-
oured too much of old methods of vengeance and punish-
ment. Instead, a long name, which I forget, but which sig-
nified a place for improvement by means of work, or some
such thing, was given. The idea was that the human element
in the prisoners must not be crushed. No numbers were
given to them and as far as we could see, no special dress
was prescribed.

Soviet Russia, p. 71.

178

Religion

WHAT IS RELIGION?

What, then, is religion (to use the word in spite of its
obvious disadvantages)? Probably it consists of the inner
development of the individual, the evolution of his conscious-
ness in a certain direction which is considered good. What
the direction is vdll again be a matter for debate. But, as far
as I understand it, religion lays stress on this inner change
and considers outward change as but the projection of this
inner development. There can be no doubt tbat this inner
development powerfully influences the outer environment.
But it is equally obvious that the outer environment power-
fully influences the inner development. Both act and interact
on each other. It is a commonplace that in the modem
industrial West outward development has far outstripped the
inner, but it does not follow, as many people in the East
appear to imagine, that because we are industrially back-
ward and our external development has been slow, therefore
our inner development has been greater. That is one of the
delusions with which we try to comfort ourselves and try to
overcome our feeling of inferiority. It may be that individuals
can rise above circumstances and environment and reach
great inner heights. But for large groups and nations a
certain measure of external development is essential before
the inner evolution can take place. A man, who is the victim
of economic circumstances and who is hedged and restricted
by the straggle to live, can very rarely achieve inner con-
sciousness of a high degree. A class that is downtrodden and
exploited can never progress inwardly. A nation which is
politically and economically subject to another and hedged
and circumscribed and exploited can never achieve inner
growth. Thus even for inner development external freedom
and a suitable environment become necessary.

Autobiography, p. 379.

179

BOOKS OF HELIGION

I have always hesitated to read books of religion. The out-
ward evidence of the practice of religion that I saw did not
encourage me to go to the original sources. Yet I had to drift
to these books, for ignorance of them was not a virtue and
was often a severe drawback. I knew that some of them had
powerfully influenced humanity and anything that could
have done so must have some inherent power and virtue in
it, some vital source of energy. I found great difficulty in
reading through many parts of them, for try as I would, I
could not rouse up sufficient interest; but the sheer beauty
of some passages would hold me. And then a phrase or a
sentence would suddenly leap up and electrify me and make
me feel the presence of the reaUy great Some words of the
Buddha or of Christ would shine out with deep meaning
and seem to me applicable as much today as when they were
uttered two thousand or more years ago. There was a com-
pelling reality about them, a permanence which time and
space could not touch. So I felt sometimes when I read about
Socrates or the Chinese philosophers, and also when I read
the Vpanishads and the Bhagaoad Gita. I was not interested
in the metaphysics, or the description of ritual, or the many
other things which apparently had no relation to the prob-
lems that faced me.

The Discovery of India, p. 76.

NO CONFLICT BETWEEN RELIGION
AND SCIENCE

In the early days of science there was much talk of a
conflict between religion and science, and science was called
materialistic and religion spiritual. That conflict hardly seems
real today when science has spread out its wings and ven-
tured to make the whole universe its field of action, and
converted solid matter itself into airy nothing. Yet the con-
flict was real, for it was a conflict between the intellectual
tjnranny imposed by what was deemed to be religion and the
free spirit of man nurtured by the scientific method.
Between the two there can be no compromise. For science
cannot accept the closing of the windows of the mind, by
whatever pleasant name this might be caUed; it cannot en-

180

coufage blind faith in someone else^s faith. Science therefore
must be prepared not only to look up to the heavens and
seek to bring them under its control, but also to look down,
unafraid, into the pit of hell. To seek to avoid either is not
the way of science. The true scientist is the sage unattached
to life and the fruits of action, ever seeking truth whereso-
ever this quest might lead him. To tie himself to a fixed
anchorage, from which there is no moving, is to give up
that search and to become static in a dynamic world.

Perhaps there is no real conflict between true religion and
science, but, if so, religion must put on the garb of science
and approach all its problems in the spirit of science. A
purely secular philosophy of life may be considered enough
by most of us. Why should we trouble ourselves about
matters beyond our ken when the problems of the world
insistently demand solution? And yet that secular philosophy
itself must have some background, some objective, otiher
than merely material well-being. It must essentially have
spiritual values and certain standards of behaviour, and,
when we consider these, we enter immediately into the
realms of what has been called religion.

The Unity of India, pp. 179-80.

THE DEIFICATION OF GREAT MEN

Human beings like to make gods of their great men, whom
having deified they refrain from following!

Glimpses of World History, Vol. I, p. 133.

MAN CANNOT DO WITHOUT RELIGION

Religion, as I saw it practised, and accepted even by think-
ing minds, whether it was Hinduism or Islam or Buddhism
or Christianity, did not attract me. It seemed to be closely
associated with superstitious practices and dogmatic beliefs,
and behind it lay a method of approach to life’s problems
which was certainly not that of science. There was an ele-
ment of magic about it, an uncritical credulousness, a
reliance on the supernatural.

Yet it was obvious that religion had supplied some deeply
felt inner need of human nature, and that the vast majority

181

of people all over tibe world could not do without some
form of religious belief. It had produced many fine types
of men and women, as well as bigoted, narrow-minded,
cruel tyrants. It had given a set of values to human life,
and though some of these values had no application today,
or were even harmful, others were still the foundation of
morality and ethics.

The Discovery of India, pp. 13-14.

I AM NOT INTERESTED IN DOGMAS

I am not a religious man, dogmas do not appeal to me.

Conversations with Mr. Nehru, p. 144.

god’s EXISTENCE A NECESSITY

Even if God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent
Him, so Voltaire said — ^“si dieu n’existait pas, il faudrait
I’inventer. Perhaps that is true, and indeed the mind of man
has always been trying to fashion some such mental image
or conception which grew with the mind’s growth. But
there is something also in the reverse proposition: even if
God exists, it may be desirable not to look up to Him or to
rely upon Him. Too much dependence on supernatural fac-
tors may lead, and has often led, to a loss of selfreliance in
man and to a bltmting of his capacity and his creative ability.
And yet some faith seems necessary in things of the spirit
which are beyond the scope of our physical world, some
reliance on moral, spiritual and idealistic conceptions, or else
we have no anchorage, no objectives or purpose in life.
Whether we believe in God or not, it is impossible not to
believe in something, whether we call it a creative life-
giving force, or vital energy inherent in matter which gives
it its capacity for self-movement and change and growth, or
by some other name, something that is as real, though elus-
ive, as life is real when contrasted with death. Whether we
are conscious of it or not, most of us worship at the invisible
altar of some unknown god and offer sacrifices to it — some
ideal, personal, national or international; some distant objec-
tive that draws us on, though reason itself may find little
substance to it; some vague conception of a perfect man

182

and a better world. Perfection may be impossible of attain-
ment, but the demon in us, some vital force urges us on and
we tread that path from generation to generation.

The Discovery of India, p. 625,

THE RIG VEOA

The Rig V eda, the first of the V edas, is probably the earliest
book that humanity possesses. In it we can find the first
outpourings of the human mind, the glow of poetry, the
rapture at nature’s loveliness and mystery. And in these
early hymns there are, as Dr. Macnicol says, the beginnings
of ‘the brave adventures, made so long ago and recorded
here, of those who seek to discover the significance of our
world and of man’s life within it. . . . India here set out on
a quest which she has never ceased to follow’.

The Discovery of India, p. 78.

THE BHAGAVAD GITA

The Bhagavad Gita is part of the Mahabharata, an episode
in the vast drama. But it stands apart and is complete in
itself. It is a relatively small poem of 700 verses — ^‘the most
beautiful, perhaps the only true philosophical song existing
in any known tongue’, as William Von Humboldt described
it. Its popularity and influence have not waned ever since
it was composed and written in the Pre-Buddhistic age and
today its appeal is as strong as ever in India. Every school
of thought and philosophy looks up to it and interprets it
in its own way. In times of crisis, when the mind of man is
tortured by doubt and is tom by the conflict of duties, it
has turned all the more to the Gita for light and guidance.
For it is a poem of crisis, of political and social crisis and,
even more so, of crisis in the spirit of man. Innumerable
commentaries on the Gita have appeared in the past and
they continue to come out with unfailing regularity. Even
the leaders of thought and action of the present day— Tilak,
Aurobindo Ghose, Gandhi — have written on it, each giving
his own interpretation. Gandhiji bases his firm belief in non-
violence on it, others justify violence and warfare for a
righteous cause.

183

The Gita deals essentially with the spiritual background
of human existence and it is in this context that the practical
problems of everyday life appear. It is a call to action to meet
the obligations and duties of life, but always keeping in view
that spiritual background and the larger purpose of the uni-
verse. Inaction is condemned, and action and life have to
be in accordance with the highest ideals of the age, for these
ideals themselves may vary from age to age. The yugad~
harrm, the ideal of the particular age, has always to be kept
in view.

The message of the Gita is not sectarian or addressed to
any particular school of thought. It is universal in its
approach for everyone. Brahman or outcaste: ‘All paths lead
to Me’, it says. It is because of this universality that it has
found favour with all classes and schools. There is some-
thing in it which seems to be capable of being constantly
renewed and not to become out of date with the passing of
time — ^an inner quality of earnest inquiry and search, of
contemplation and action, of balance and equilibrium in
spite of conflict and contradiction. There is a poise in it
and a unity in the midst of disparity, and its temper is one
of supremacy over the changing environment, not by seek-
ing escape from it but fitting in with it. During the two
thousand five hundred years since it was written,
humanity went repeatedly through the process of change
and development and decay; experience succeeded experi-
ence, thought followed thought, but it always found some-
thing living in the Gita, something that fitted into the devel-
oping thought and had a freshness and applicability to the
spiritual problems that afiElict the mind.

The Discovery of India, pp. 114-16.

Buddha’s middle path

Buddha’s way was the Middle Path, between the extremes
of self-indulgence and self-mortification. From his own ex-
perience of mortification of the body, he said that a person
who has lost his strength cannot progress along the right
path. This Middle Path was the Aryan Eightfold Path: Right
belief, right asnirations, right speech, right conduct, right
mode of livelihood, right efiFort, right-mindedness, and

184

right rapture. It is all a question of self-developm«it, not
grace. And if a person succeeds in developing along these
lines and conquers himself, there can be no defeat for him
— ^“Not even a god can change into defeat the victory of
a man who has vanquished himself.

Buddha told his disciples what he thought they could
understand and live up to. His teaching was not meant to
be a full explanation of everytihiing, a complete revelation
of all that is. Once, it is said, he took some dry leaves in his
hand and asked his favourite disciple Ananda to tell him
whether there were any other leaves besides those in His
hand. Ananda replied: ‘The leaves of autumn are falling on
all sides, and there are more of them than can be num-
bered.’ Then said the Buddha: ‘In like manner I have given
you a handful of truths, but besides these there are many
thousands of other truths more than can be numbered.’

The Discovery of India, pp. 140-41.

THE MESSAGE OF THE BUDDHA

I believe that it is essentially through the message of the
Buddha that we can look at our problems in the right per-
spective and draw back from conflict, and from competing
with one another in the realm of conflict, violence and
hatred. Every action has certain consequences. A good action
has certain good consequences. An evil action has evil con-
sequences. That I believe is as good a law of nature as any
physical or chemical law. If that is so, hatred, which is evil,
must have evil consequences. Violence, which is evil, must
have evil consequences and, indeed, leads to the growth of
violence. How then are we to escape from this vicious circle?
I hope and believe that this year of the Parinirvana of the
Buddha had led people to look deeper into these problems,
and made them realize that they have to search for some
kind of union between their day-to-day political, scientific,
technological and other activities and a certain measure of
spirituality.

Speeches (1953-57), pp. 430-1: from Valedic-
tory Address at the Seminar on Buddhism,
New Delhi, November 29, 1956.

185

DIFFKREMCES BETWEEN INDIANS AND
OTHERS

I won’t put it that way, that Indians are more spiritual’.
I would say that a static society talks more about so-called
spirituality. Yet, naturally, there are differences between
Indians and other peoples. It is not that Indians are better
than others. But, for instance, even if wealth is naturally
desired by people the wealthy man has never been greatly
admired here. Wealth is wanted, but somehow in the whole
of our past the man of leammg was always much more
respected than the wealthy man. It is a national outlook.
One of those factors which have influence. But, naturally,
the urge for material advance is present.

Conversations with Mr. ’Nehru, pp. 118-19.

A LIVING PHILOSOPHY

A living philosophy must answer the problems of today.

The Discovery of India, p. 20.

A SENSE OF THE MYSTERIOUS

Often as I look at this world, I have a sense of mysteries,
of unknown depths. The urge to xmderstand it, in so far as
I can, comes to me; to be in tune with? it and to experience
it in its fulhess. But the way to that understanding seems
to me essentially the way of science, the way of objective
approach, though I realize that there can be no such thing
as true objectiveness. If the subjective element is unavoid-
able and inevitable, it should be conditioned as far as pos-
sible by the scientific method.

What the mysterious is I do not know. I do not call it
God because God has come to mean much that I do not
believe in. I find myself incapable of thinking of a deity or
of any unknown supreme power in anthromorphic terms,
and the fact that many people think so is continually a
source of surprise to me. Any idea of a personal God seems
very odd to me. Intellectually, I can appreciate to some
extent the conception of monism, and I have been attracted
towards the Advaita (non-dualist) philosophy of the
Vedanta, though I do not presume to imderstand it in all its

186

depth and intricacy, and I realize that merely an intellectual
appreciation of such matters does not carry one far. At the
same time the Vedanta, as well as other similar approaches,
rather frighten me with their vague formless incursions into
infinity. The diversity and fullness of nature stir me and
produce a harmony of the spirit, and I can imagine myself
feeling at home in the old Indian or Greek pagan and pan-
theistic atmosphere, but minus the conception of god or
gods that was attached to it.

The Discovery of India, pp. 16-17.

OF DEATH

Someone said the other day: death is the birthright of every
person bom. A curious way of putting an obvious thing. It
is a birthright which nobody has denied or can deny, and
which all of us seek to forget and escape so long as we may.
And yet there was something novel and attractive about the
phrase. Those who complain so bitterly of life have always
a way out of it, if they so chose. That is always in our power
to achieve. If we cannot master life we can at least master
death. A pleasing thought lessening the feeling of helpless-
ness.

The Discovery of India, p. 12.

THE*DEATH PENALTY

Life has become so cheap that it does not seem of much
consequence whether a few criminals are put to death or
not. Sometimes one wonders whether a sentence to live is
not the hardest punishment of all.

A Bunch of Old Letters, p. 500: from Letter to
George Bernard Shaw, dated September 4,
1948.

DEFIANCE OF DEATH

Wonderful is the courage that conquers death!

Glimpses of World History, Vol. I, p. 64.

THE NEXT WORLD

I am afraid the nc.^t world does not interest me. My mind

187

is too full of what I should do in this world, and if I see
my way clearly here, I am content. If my duty here is clear
to me, I do not trouble myself about any other world.

Glimpses of World History, Vol. I, p. 58 .

188

Nature

THE BEAUTY OF SPRINGTIME

Sometimes I would lie under the pine trees and listen to the
voice of the wandering wind, whispering many strange
things into my ears, and lulling my senses, and cooling the
fever in my brain. Finding me unguarded and open to
attack, it would cunningly point out the folly of men’s ways
in the world below, their unceasing strife, their passions and
hatred, their bigotry in the name of religion, the corruption
of their pohtics, the degradation of their ideals. Was it worth
while going back to them and wasting one’s life’s efiFort in
dealings with them? Here there was peace and quiet and
well-being, and for companions we had the snows and the
mountains and the hillsides covered with a multitude and a
variety of trees and flowers, and the staging of birds. So
whispered the wind, softly and cunningly, and in the en-
chantment of the spring day I allowed her to whisper.

It was early spring still m the mountains, though down
below summer was already peeping m. On the hill-sides the
rhododendron flowers made bright red patches which could
be seen from afar. The fruit trees were full of bloom, and
milli ons of tiny leaves were on the point of coming out to
cover with their fresh, tender, green beauty the nakedness
of many of the trees.

The Unity of India, p. 202.

HUMAN BEINGS ARE LIKE FLOWERS OR
PLANTS

A human being grows and ought to grow like a flower or a
plant. You cannot pull it out; you can water it; you can help
it grow; you can give it good soil; you can put it in the
fresh air or in the sun. But it has to grow by itself; you
cannot make it grow by force. Many of our people some-
times think that you could make something grow by some

189

decree from above but you cannot.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 72: from speech at the
Silver Jubilee Celebrations of the Central
Board of Irrigation and Power, New Delhi,
November 17, 1952.

KASHMIR

Like some supremely beautiful women, whose beauty is
almost impersonal and above human desire, such was
Kashmir in all its feminine beauty of river and valley and
lake and graceful trees. And then another aspect of this
magic beauty would come to view, a masculine one, of hard
mountains and precipices, and snow-capped peaks and
glaciers, and cruel and fierce torrents rushing down to the
valleys below. It had a hundred faces and innumerable
aspects, ever-changing, sometimes smiling, sometimes sad
and full of sorrow. The mist would creep up from the Dal
Lake and, like a transparent veil, give glimpses of what was
behind. The clouds would throw out their arms to embrace
a mountain-top, or creep down stealthily like children at
play. I watched this ever-changing spectacle, and sometimes
the sheer loveliness of it was overpowering and I felt almost
faint. As I gazed at it, it seemed to me dream-like and unreal,
like the hopes and desires that fill us and so seldom find
fulfilment. It was hke the face of the beloved that one sees
in a dream and that fades away on awakening.

The Unity of India, p. 223.

THE WITCHERY OF THE TROPICS

Fourteen months have passed by since I wrote to you from
Naini Prison about past history. Three months later I added
two short letters to that series from the Arabian Sea. We
were on board the Cracovia then, hurrying to Lanka
(Ceylon). As I wrote, the great big sea stretched out before
me and my hungry eyes gazed at it and could not take their
fill. Then came Lanka, and for a month we made glorious
holiday and tried to forget our troubles and worries. Up and
down that most beautiful of islands we went, wondering at
its exceeding loveliness and at the abundance of Nature.

190

Kandy and Nuwara Eliya and Anuradhapnra, with its ruins
and relics of old greatness; how pleasant it is to think of the
many places we visited! But above all, I love to think of the
cool tropical jungle with its abundant life, looking at you
with a thousand eyes; and of the graceful areca tree, slender
and straight and true; and the innumerable coconuts; and
the palm-fringed seashore where the emerald green of the
island meets the blue of tire sea and the sky; and the sea-
water glistens and plays on the surf, and the wind rustles
through the palm-leaves.

It was your first visit to the tropics, and for me also, but
for a brief stay long ago, the memory of which had almost
faded, it was a new experience. I had not been attracted
to them, as I feared the heat. It was the sea and the moun-
tain, and above all, the high snows and glaciers, that fascin-
ated me. But even during our short stay in Ceylon I felt
something of the charm and the witchery’ of the tropics, and
I came back, somewhat wistfully, hoping to make friends
with them again.

Our month of holiday in Ceylon ended too soon, and we
crossed the narrow seas to the southern tip of India. Do you
remember our visit to Kanya-Kumari, where the Virgin
Goddess is said to dwell and keep guard, and which Wes-
terners with their genius for twisting and corrupting oxu:
names, have called Cape Comorin? We sat literally at the
feet of Mother India then, and we saw the Arabian Sea
meet the waters of the Bay of Bengal, and we liked to imag-
ine that they were both paying homage to India. Wonder-
fully peaceful it was there, and my mind travelled several
thousand miles to the other extremity of India where the
eternal snows crown the Himalayas and peace also dwells.

Glimpses of World History, Vol. I, pp. 84-5.

ANCIENT INDIANS FOUND INTENSE JOY
IN NATURE

In India we find during every period when her civilization
bloomed, an intense joy in life and nature, a pleasure in the
act of living, the development of art and music and litera-
ture and song and dancing and painting and the theatre,
and even a highly sophisticated inquiry into the sex rela-

191

tion. It is inconceivable that a culture or a view of life based
on other-worldliness or world-worthlessness could have pro-
duced all these manifestations of vigorous and varied life.
Indeed it should be obvious that any culture that was basic-
ally other-worldly could not have carried on for thousands
of years.

The Discovery of India, p. 82.

AMONG THE MOUNTAINS AND VALLEYS

Day succeeded day and I drank deep of the mountain air
and took my fill of the sight of the snows and the valleys.
How beautiful and full of peace they were, and the world’s
ills seemed far away and unreal. Towards the West and the
South-east deep valleys, two or three thousand feet below
us, curved away in the distance. Towards the north towered
Nanda Devi and her white-clad companions. Fierce preci-
pices, almost^ straight cut, sometimes led to the depths
below, but more often the curves of the hill-sides were soft
and rounded like a woman’s breast. Or they would be cut
in terraces where green fields witnessed to the industry of
man.

In the early morning I lay bare-bodied in the open and the
gentle-eyed sun of the mountains took me into his warm
embrace. The cold wind from the snows made me shiver a
little, but the sun would come to my rescue and fill me with
warmth and well-being.

The Unity of India, pp. 201-2.

NATURE AND AGE

But days passed and months and years, and life is short, and
a fear gripped me with this passing of time. Age may have
its advantages, and the Chinese, above all other people,
have praised them. It gives, or should give stability and
equilibrium to the mind, a sense of poise, an appearance
of wisdom, even a keener appreciation of beauty in all its
forms. But age is stiff and crabbed, unimpressionable and
reacts slowly to outside stimuli. It cannot be moulded easily;
its emotional reactions are limited. It looks to comfort and
security more than to the fine frenzy of enthusiasm. While it

192

gives its sober and reasoned appreciation to the beauty of
nature and art, it does not mirror this beauty in its eyes or
feel it in its heart. It makes all the difference in the world
whether one visits Italy — ^not Fascist Italy, but the Italy of
song and music and beautiful art, of Leonardo and Raphael
and Michael Angelo, of Dante and Petrarch — in one’s youth
or in later years. Besides, what can age do to a mountain
except sit and gaze in silent wonder?

The Unity of India, p. 220.

N

193

Peace

PEACE

Peace can only come when nations are free and also when
human beings everywhere have freedom and security and
opportimity. Peace and freedom, therefore, have to be con-
sidered both in their political and economic aspects. The
countries of Asia, we must remember, are very backward
and the standards of life are appallingly low. These econ-
omic problems demand urgent solution or else crisis and
disaster may overhelm us. We have, therefore, to think in
terms of the common man and fashion our political, econ-
omic and social structure so that the burdens that have
crushed him may be removed, and he may have full oppor-
tunity for growth.

Independence and After, p. 299: from speech
inaugurating the Asian Conference, New
Delhi, March 23, 1947.

PEACE PARAMOUNT POR THE WORLd’s
PROGRESS OR SURVIVAL

The question of peace becomes of paramount importance if
this world of ours is to make progress or indeed even survive.
Peace in our view is not merely abstention from war but an
active and positive approach to international problems and
relations, leading, first, to the lessening of the present tension
through an attempt to solve our problems by methods of
negotiation, and then, to a growing co-operation between
nations in various ways — cultural and scientific contacts,
increase in trade and commerce, and exchange of ideas, ex-
perience and information. We should endeavour to remove
all walls and barriers to the growth of our minds and hearts
such as come in the way of international co-operation. There
is no reason why different countries having different political
or social or economic systems should not co-operate in this

194

way, provided there is no interference with one another and
no imposition or attempt to dominate.

Speeches (1953-57), pp. 303-4: from statement
at the Dynamo Stadium, Moscow, June 22,
1955.

PEACE NOT THE EESULT OF WARS

Surely the lesson of those wars has been that out of hatred
and violence you will not build peace. It is a contradiction
in terms. The lesson of history, the long course of history,
and more especialh^ the lesson of the last two great wars
which have devastated humanity, has been that out of
hatred and violence only hatred and violence will come. We
have got into a cycle of hatred and violence and not the
most brilliant will get you out of it, unless you look some
other way and find some other means. It is obvious that if
you continue in this cycle and have wars wlrich this
Assembly was especially meant to avoid and prevent, the
result will not only be tremendous devastation all over the
world, but non-achievement by any individual Power or
group of its objective.

Independence and After, p. 299: from address
to the United Nations General Assembly,
Paris, November 3, 1948.

PEACE INDIVISIBLE IN THE WORLD TODAY

The vast strides that technology has made have brought a
new age of which the United States of America is the leader.
Today the whole world is our neighbour and the old div-
isions of continents and countries matter less and less.
Peace and freedom have become indivisible and the world
caimot continue for long partly free and partly subject. In
this atomic age, peace has also become a test of human sur-
vival. Recently, we have witnessed two tragedies which
have powerfully affected men and women all over the world.
These are the tragedies in Egypt and Hungary. Our deeply
felt sjunpathies must go out to those who have suffered or
are suffering and all of us must do our utmost to help them

195

and to assist in solving these problems in a peaceful and
constructive way.

Speeches (1953-57), pp. 48-9: from television
and radio address, Washington, U.S.A., Dec-
ember 18, 1956.

MILITARY PACTS AND ARMAMENTS WORK
AGAINST WORLD PEACE

We do not presume to advise others, but we are convinced
that it is not by military pacts and alliances and by the
piling up of armaments that world peace and security can
be attained. Not being military-minded, we do not appreci-
ate the use of military phraseology or military approaches in
considering the problems of today. There are talks of cold
war and rival camps and groupings and militaiy blocs and
alliances, all in the name of peace. We are in no camp and
in no military alliances. The only camp we should like to
be in is the camp of peace and goodwill which should in-
clude as many countries as possible and which should be
opposed to none. The only alliance we seek is an alliance
based on goodwill and co-operation. If peace is sought after,
it has to be by the methods of peace and the language of
peace and goodwill.

Speeches (1953-57), p. 310: from speech in
Hindi at Banquet to Mr. Bulganin and Mr.
Kruschev, New Delhi, November 20, 1955.

NO ONE CAN BE A PROPHET OF PEACE

Nobody can guarantee peace for any great length of time.

Independence and After, p. 257: from speech
at the Indian Council of World AfiEairs, New
Delhi, March 22, 1949.

PEACE POSSIBLE ONLY WITH
INTERNATIONAL CO-OPERATION

It appears to me that the only possibility of achieving real
peace lies in greater and greater international co-operation

196

on every plane.

Independence and After, p. 313; from speech
at the First Regional Committee Meeting of
the World Health Organization for South
East Asia, October 4, 1948.

INDIA ONLY INTERESTED IN WORLD PEACE

Our main stake in world affairs is peace, to see that there is
racial equality and that people who are still subjugated
should be free.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 68: from speech in
Parliament, New Delhi, December 6, 1950.

MAHATMA GANDHi’s CONTRIBUTION TO
WORLD PEACE

In India during the last quarter of a century or more,
Mahatma Gandhi made an outstanding contribution not
only to the freedom of India but to that of world peace.
He taught us the doctrine of non-violence, not as a passive
submission to evil, but as an active and positive instrument
for the peaceful solution of international differences. He
showed us that the human spirit is more powerful than the
mightiest of armaments. He applied moral values to political
action and pointed out that ends and means can never be
separated, for the means ultimately govern the end. If the
means are evil, then the end itself becomes distorted and at
least partially evil. Any society based on injustice must
necessarily have the seeds of conflict and decay within it
so long as it does not get rid of that evil.

Independence and After, p. 302: from a talk
broadcast to tlie United States of America
from New Delhi, April 3, 1948.

197

Women and Children

UNDEMOCRATIC TO DISCRIMINATE AGAINST
HALT THE POPULATION

You cannot have a democracy if you cut oflE a large chunk
of humanity, fifty per cent of the people, and put them in a
class apart in regard to social privileges and the like. They
are bound to rebel and rightly. I believe some Hon. Mem-
bers spoke with disdain of what they consider certain trends
in the social life of upper-class Inian women. Well, I am
not a great admirer of certain types of development which
we see in New Delhi. If we do not like these developments,
let us try to change them. But what exactly does that argu-
ment lead to? Does that mean that you should perpetuate
or petrify conditions which themselves are leading to these
cracks and break-ups in Hindu society?

Speeches (1953-57), p. 451: from speech on the
Hindu Marriage BiU in the Lok Sabha, New
Delhi, May 5, 1955,

POSITION OF WOMEN INDICATES WHAT A
NATION IS LIKE

A great French writer once remarked: ‘If you want me to
tell you what a nation is like, or what a social organization
is like, tell me the position of women in that nation.’ The
status and social place of women wiU indicate the country’s
character more than anything else. That applies equally to
the educational, social, economic and other fields.

Speeches (1953-57), p. 399: from speech at the
foundation of a women’s college, Madras,
January 22, 1955.

WOMEN IN PURDAH

Whenever I think of the women in purdah, cut off from the

198

outside world, I invariably think of a prison or a zoo! How
can a nation go ahead if half of its population is kept hidden
away in a kind of prison? Tear the purdah, and let each one
of us see the light of day.

Glimpses of World History, Vol. I, p. 233.

In my own part of the country, you can see a woman work-
ing hard in the field or elsewhere with her menfolk, but
when the husband begins to earn more, people seem to think
that she should retire into purdah. Doing no work is con-
sidered a sign of high status. The whole conception behind
this business is totally unsuited to our times. Of course, in
my part of the world, there are strange stories which some
of you may have hoard about what the Begums of Oudh
used to do or what people thought they ought to have done.
They were so delicately nurtured, it seems, that whenever
they saw an orange at a distance they caught a cold. It is
said that when a doctor, or a hakim was called in, he was
not supposed to feel the pulse in the normal way. Apart
from being improper, it was thought it might hurt the ladies’
gentle wrists if the doctor touched them. So it was arranged
that a slender thread should run from the wrist to the doctor
who should feel the thread and read the pulse. That might
have been a good way of proceeding in the matter, because
most of these women were neurotics and required no treat-
ment. And so it did not matter what their pulse said.

Speeches (1953-57), pp. 399-400: from speech
at the foundation of a women’s college,
Madras, January 22, 1955.

NO PURDAH IN ANCIENT INDIA

There was no seclusion of women in ancient India except
to some extent among royalty and the nobility. Probably
there was more segregation of the sexes in Greece than in
India then. Women of note and learning are frequently
mentioned in the old Indian books, and often they took part
in public debates.

The Discovery of India, pp. 169-70.
women’s education

Whatever group or religion one might belong to, education

199

is essential. By education I mean education and not merely
learning to be lady-like. Learning to be lady-like may be
good in itself but it is not education as such. Education has
mainly two aspects, the cultural aspect which makes a per-
son grow, and the productive aspect which makes a person
do things. Both are essential. Everybody should be a pro-
ducer as well as a good citizen and not a sponge on another
person even though the other person may be one’s own hus-
band or wife. That is the way we are developing and persons
who do not wake up to this fact and prepare themselves
for it will just be left behind.

Speeches (1953-57), pp. 401-2: from speech at
the foundation of a women’s college, Madras,
January 22, 1955.

DIVORCE

Divorce must not be looked upon as something which makes
the custom of marriage fragile. I do not accept that. If that
is so, I say that marriage has itself become a cloak. It is not
a real marriage of the minds or bodies. If you compel and
force people in this way, it will just be an enforced thing
which has no value left in ethics and morality. Certainly
stop them from acting rashly. Give them time. Make
attempts to bring about a reconciliation. If all that fails,
don’t permit a state of affairs which, I think, is the essence
of evil, which is bad for them, which is bad for the children,
bad for everybody. I would particularly beg the House to
take the view that this clause about divorce by mutual con-
sent, subject to time, subject to reconciliation, subject to
all such approaches, so that nothing may be done in a hurry,
is a right and proper clause. It will produce a happier adjust-
ment and a better relationship between the parties than
would be produced if one party thinks that he can misbe-
have as much as he likes and nothing will happen.

Speeches (1953-57), pp. 444-5: from speech in
Lok Sabha on Special Marriage Bill, New
Delhi, September 16, 1954.

HIGH IDEALS OF INDIAN WOMANHOOD

We are often reminded of the high ideals of Indian woman-

200

hood, Sita and Savitri. Well, everyone here, I take it, ad-
mires these ideals and thinks of Sita and Savitri and other
heroines of India with reverence and respect and affection.
Sita and Savitri are mentioned as ideals for the women. I
do not seem to remember men being reminded in the same
manner of Ramachandra and Satyavan, and urged to behave
like them. It is only the women who have to behave like
Sita and Savitri; the men may behave as they like. I do
not know whether Indian men are supposed to be perfect,
incapable of further improvement.

Speeches (1953-57), p. 451: from speech in the
Lok Sabha on the Hindu Marriage Bill, New
Delhi, May 5, 1955.

I AM PROUD OF THE WOMEN OF INDIA

I am not competent to judge the social fabric of other coun-
tries. Though I may be a little more competent, perhaps,
because of the opportunities I have had for travel abroad,
than many members here, yet I say I am not competent to
judge. But I can say with considerable confidence that I am
proud of the women of India. I am proud of their beauty,
grace, charm, shyness, modesty, intelligence, and their spirit
of sacrifice, and I think if anybody can truly represent fhe
spirit of India, the woman can do it and not the men. Every
time that a woman has been sent abroad, she has done well;
not only done well, but produced a fine impression about
the womanhood of India.

I have the greatest admiration — ^I am not talking about
the ancient Indian ideal of womanhood, which I certainly
admire — ^for the women of India today. I have faith in them.
I am not afraid to allow them freedom to grow, because I
am convinced that no amount of legal constraint can pre-
vent society from going in a certain direction. And if you
put too much restraint, the structure breaks.

Speeches (1953-57), p. 453: from speech in the
Lok Sabha on the Hindu Marriage Bill, New
Delhi, May 5, 1955.

I AM FOND OF CHILDREN

I like being with children and talking to them and, even

201

more, playing with them. For a moment I forget that I am
terribly old and that it is a very long time ago since I was
a child. But when I sit down to write to you, I cannot forget
my age and the distance that separates you from me. Old
people have a habit of delivering sermons and giving good
advice to the young. I remember that I disliked this very
much long ago when I was a boy. So, I suppose you do not
like it very much either. Grown-ups have also a habit of
appearing to be very wise, even though very few of them
possess much wisdom. I have not quite made up my mind
yet whether I am wise or not. Sometimes listening to others,
I feel I must be very wise and brilliant and important. Then,
looking at myself I begin to doubt this. In any event, people
who are wise do not talk about their wisdom and do not
behave as if they were very superior persons.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 439: from Children’s
Number of Shankers Weekly, December 3,
1949.

DUTY OF THE STATE TOWABDS CHILDEEN

Nothing saddens me so much as the sight of children who
are denied education, sometimes denied even food and
clothing. If our children today are denied education, what is
our India of tomorrow going to be? It is the duty of the
State to provide good education for every child in the coun-
try. And I would add that it is the duty of the State to pro-
vide free education to every child in the country. Unfor-
tunately, we cannot do all these things quickly and sud-
denly, because of our lack of resources and lack of teachers.
But we have to get going. After all, whatever pattern of
society we are looking forward to must contain trained
human beings, not people who have just learned to read and
write, but trained people whose character has been devel-
oped, whose mind has aspirations and some elements of cul-
ture about it and who can do something with their hands.

Speeches (1953-57), p. 403: from address at the
Avadi Session of the Indian National Congress,
January 23, 1955.

202

Happiness and Health

HAPPINESS

Happiness, after all, is an inner state of mind. It is little
dependent on outside environment. Happiness has very little
to do, for instance, with whether you are rich or not rich.
Some of the most miserable persons I have come across in
my life are the rich people. It is true that poverty makes
one miserable in a very acute way. But my point is that it
is not wealth but co-ordination of one’s thought and action
which removes inner conflicts. It is in that way that integra-
tion of personality is achieved.

Speeches (1953-57), pp. 472-3: from speech at
the Inter-University Youth Festival, New
Delhi, October 23, 1955.

THOUGHT AND ACTION

It is easy to admire the beauties of the universe and to live
in a world of thought and imagination. But to try to escape
in this way from the unhappiness of others, caring little what
happens to them, is no sign of courage or fellow-feeling.
Thought, in order to justify itself, must lead to action.

Glimpses of World History, Vol. II, p. 1503.

CO-ORDINATION OF THOUGHT AND ACTION
MAKES FOR HAPPINESS

Thought without action is abortion. Action without thought
is foUy. . . . The more action and thought are allied and
integrated, the more effective they become and the happier
you grow. There will then be no inner conflict between a
wish to do something and inability to act or between think-
ing one way and acting in another. The happiest man is he

203

whose thinking and action are co-ordinated.

Speeches (1953-57), p. 472; from speech at the
Inter-University Youth Festival, New Delhi,
October 23, 1955.

TRIBAL PEOPLE ENJOY LIFE

Who are these tribal folk? A way of describing them is that
they are the people of the frontiers or those who live away
from the interior of this coimtry. Just as the hills breed a
different type of people from those who inhabit the p lains ^
so also the frontier breeds a different type of people from
those who live away from the frontier. My own predilection
is for the mountains rather than for the plains, for the hill
folk rather than for the plains people. So also I prefer the
frontier, not only in a physical sense but because the idea
of living near a frontier appeals to me intellectually. I feel
that it would prevent one from becoming complacent and
complacency is a very grave danger, especidly in a great
country like India where the nearest frontier may be a
thousand miles away.

We should have a receptive attitude to the tribal people.
There is a great deal we can learn from them, particularly
in the frontier areas; and having learnt, we must try to help
and co-operate. They are an extremely disciplined people,
often a great deal more democratic than most others in
India. Even though they have no constitution, they are able
to function democratically and carry out the decisions made
by their elders or their representatives. Above all, they are
people who sing and dance and try to enjoy life; not people
who sit in stock exchanges, shout at one another and think
themselves civilized.

I would prefer being a nomad in the hills to being a mem-
ber of stock exchanges, where one is made to sit and listen
to noises that are ugly to a degree. Is that the civilization we
want the tribal people to have? I hope not. I am quite sure
that the tribal folk, with their civilization of song and
dance, will last till long after stock exchanges have ceased to

204

exist.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 43; from speech at
the Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled
Areas Conference, New Delhi, June 7,
1952.

GOOD HEALTH

I claim to have good health and I am prepared to meet any-
body of my age in most contests, physical or other. If the\'
want to run a hundred yards, I will run with them; or if
they want to swim I will swim with them; if they want to
ride, I will race with them on horse-back. I may not be quite
so agile and active as I was then, ten or twenty or thirty
years ago; nevertheless, if I may take you into my confi-
dence, I have always attached a good deal of importance to
the body. It is everybody’s duty to be fit and strong. I have
always had an acute dislike for illness or feebleness. I do
not sympathize with anybody’s illness. I say so because many
people here think that it is aristocratic to be ill and feeble.
I want young people and old to be healthy and strong and
agile, and I want them to be physically an A-1 nation. I do
not think we can really make much intellectual progress
unless we have a good physical background.

Speeches (1953-57), p. 404: from speech at the
Avadi Session of the Indian National Con-
gress, January 23, 1955.

RENUNCIATION THE KEY TO HAPPINESS

Einstein, most eminent among scientists, tells us that ‘the
fate of the human race was more than ever dependent on its
moral strength today. The way to a joyful and happy state
is through renunciation and self-limitation everywhere’. He
takes us back suddenly from this proud age of science
to the old philosophers, from the lust for power and the profit
motive to the spirit of renunciation with which India has
been so familiar. Probably most other scientists of today will
not agree with him in thh or when he says: ‘I am absolutely
convinced that no wealth in the world can help humanity
forward, even in the hands of the most devoted workers in

205

the cause. The example of great and pure characters is the
only thing that can produce fine ideas or noble deeds. Money
only appeals to selfishness and always tempts its owners irre-
sistibly to abuse it’

The Discovery of India, p. 682.

206

The United States of America

MY VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES IS A
VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY

The President of the United States described my visit to
this country in vivid language as a voyage of discovery. That
description was true enough, as I had to learn and find out
many things; and yet, how can any one discover this great
country in three or four weeks? All my life I have been
engaged in a quest — ^the discovery of my ovra country —
India. During this life’s journey of discovery, I have found
much in my country that inspired me, much that interested
me and much that made me understand a little of what India
was and is today. And yet India, with the weight of ages
behind her and with her urges and desires in the present, has
only been partially discovered by me and I am continually
finding out new facets of her many-sided personality that
continually surprise me.

How then can I presume to discover this great country
during a brief visit? And yet, even a brief visit may give
some insight into the ideals and objectives and the springs
of action of a nation. So, I made myself receptive in order
to understand somewhat the spirit of America and the
sources of the inner strength that have made her great. All
the word sees, sometimes, perhaps, with a little envy, her
great prosperity and the tremendous advance she has made
in the application of science for human betterment. From
that, all of us have to learn much; and yet, it was obvious
to me that no great material advance could take place or
could last long unless there were deeper foundations under-
lying it. The picture of the average American presented to
the outside world is of a hard-headed, efiScient and practical
businessman, intent on making money and using that money
to add to his power and influence. That picture, no doubt,
has some truth it in. And yet there is another picture and, I

207

think, a much more enduring one, of a warm-hearted and
very generous people, full of goodwill for others and with a
firm belief in the basic principles on which this great Repub-
lic was founded — the principles of freedom, equality, and
democracy. It has been my good fortune to see this latter
picture wherever I have gone and this has made me realize
wherein lies the real strength of America, Everywhere I
have found a love of freedom and a desire for peace and
co-operation and, among the people, a frankness and human
approach which make friendly understanding easy. Because
of this approach I have also ventured to speak frankly what
I had in my mind.

Speeches (1949-53), pp. 417-18: from Address
at the University of California, October 31,
1949.

AN EXCHANGE OF IDEAS IS THE PURPOSE
OF MY VISIT

I have come to this country to leam something of your great
achievements. I have come also to convey the greetings of
my people and in the hope that my visit may help to create
a greater understanding between our respective peoples and
those strong and sometimes invisible links, stronger even
than physical links, that bind countries together. The Presi-
dent referred the day before yesterday, in language of signi-
ficance, to my visit as a voyage of discovery of America. The
United States of America is not an unknown country even
in far-off India and many of us have grown up in admir-
ation of the ideals and objectives which have made this
country great. Yet, though we may know the history and
something of the culture of our respective countries, w'hat
is required is a true understanding and appreciation of each
other even where we differ. Out of that imderstanding grows
fruitful co-operation in the pursuit of common ideals.
What the world lacks most is, perhaps, understanding and
appreciation of one another among nations and people. I
have come here, therefore, on a voyage of discovery of the
mind and heart of America and to place before you our own
mind and heart. Thus, we may promote that understanding
and co-operation which, I feel sure, both our countries

208

earnestly desire.

Speeches (1949-53), p, 121: from address to
the East and West Association, New York,
October 19, 1949.

COMMON THINGS BETWEEN INDIA AND
THE UNITED STATES

However the voices of India and the United States may
appear to differ, there is much in common between them.
Like you, we have achieved our freedom through a revolu-
tion, though our methods were different. Like you we shall
be a Republic based on the federal principle which is an
outstanding contribution of the founders of this great Repub-
lic. In a vast country like India, as in this Republic of the
United States, it becomes necessary to have a delicate bal-
ance between central control and State autonomy. We have
placed in the forefront of our Constitution those funda-
mental human rights to which all men who love liberty,
equality and progress aspire — ^the freedom of the individual,
the equality of men and the rule of law. We enter, therefore,
the community of free nations with the roots of democracy
deeply embedded in our institutions as well as in the
thoughts of our people.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 123: from address to the
East and West Association, New York, Octo-
ber 19, 1949.

MY AIM IS TO HARMONIZE ACTION WITH
IDEALS

I have come to you not so much in my capacity as Prime
Minister of a great country or a politician but rather as a
humble seeker after truth and as one who has continually
struggled to find the way not always with success, to fit
action to the objectives and ideals that he has held. The
process is always diflBcult but it becomes increasingly so in
this world of conflict and passion. Politicians have to deal
with day to day problems and they seek immediate results.
Philosophers think of ultimate objectives and are apt to lose
touch with the day to day world and its problems. Neither

209

o

approach appears to be adequate by itseE Is it possible to
combine those two approaches and function after the man-
ner of Plato’s philosopher-kings? You, Sir, who have had
the experience of the role of a great man of action and also
that of a philosopher as head of this university, should be
able to help us to answer this question.

In this world of incessant and feverish activity, men have
little time to think, much less to consider ideals and objec-
tives. Yet, how are we to act, even in the present, unless we
know which way we are going and what our objectives are?
It is only in the peaceful atmosphere of a university that
these basic problems can be adequately considered. It is
only when the young men and women, who are in the uni-
versity today and on whom the burden of life’s problems
will fall tomorrow, learn to have clear objectives and stan-
dards or values that there is hope for the next generation.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 395; from speech on the
occasion of the conferment of the degree of
Doctor of Laws, Columbia University, New
York, October 17, 1949.

1 HAVE COME TO AMERICA TO LEARN

Whether India has an5^hmg special to teach to the United
States, I do not know. That is for you to judge. Certainly, I
have not come to the United States to teach anybody any-
thing. I have come here to improve my own education as far
as possible to learn something from America and to learn
something about the world through American eyes, because
both are important to me. I believe I retain something still
of the spirit of a student and the curiosity of youth. It is not
only this curiosity but rather a compelling necessity that
makes me feel that I ought or rather that we in India ought
to understand America better. Whether we agree with every-
thing that the United States does or does not is another
matter.

Speeches (1949-53), pp. 117-18: from Address
to the House of Representatives and the
Senate, Washington, D.C., October 13, 1949.

210

OURS IS AN AGE OF PARADOX

We Kve in an age of paradox and continuing crisis. We talk
of peace and prepare for war. We discuss internationalism
and ‘One World’ and yet narrow nationalism governs our
activities. There is said to be a conflict of ideologies and this
argument and the conflict that flows from it usually takes
place without much thought of the ideals and the objectives
that should govern us. We move from one temporary ex-
pedient to another, never catching up with the pace of
events. Priding ourselves on shaping history, we function
from day to day as slaves of events that inexorably unroll
themselves before our eyes and fear possesses us and hatred
follows in its train. . , . The long course of history of human
development shows us that there are certain basic truths and
realities that do not change with the changing times and
unless we hold fast to them we are likely to go astray. The
present generation has gone astray often in spite of all the
wonderful accumulation of knowledge that we possess and
danger always looms ahead.

What then is lacking and how can we solve these crises in
human affairs? I am no prophet nor have I any magical
remedy to suggest. I have tried to grope my way, to think
straight and to co-ordinate, as far as possible, action to
thought. I have often foimd it difiBcult to do so, for action
on the political plane is not individual action but group and
mass action. Nevertheless, I am convinced that any policy,
any ideology, which ignores truth and character in human
beings and which preaches hatred and violence, can only
lead to evil results.

Speeches (1949-53), pp. 420-1: from Address
at the University of California, October 31,
1949.

THE PERSPECTIVE OF HISTORY

As I stand here in the beautiful campus of this university,
surrounded by the peace and beauty of nature and the cre-
ative genius of man, the conflicts and the troubles of the
world seem far away. The past crowds in upon me, the past
of Asia, of Europe and of America and standing on this
razor’s edge of the present, I try to peep into the future. I

211

see in this past the long struggle of Man against adverse
surroundings and in the face of innumerable difficulties. I
see his repeated martyrdom and crucifixion but I see also
the spirit of man rising again and again and trixunphing
over every adversity. Let us look at this perspective of his-
tory, gain wisdom and courage from it and not be oppressed
too much by the burden of the past and of the present. We
are the heirs of all these ages that have gone before us and
it has been given to us to play our part during a period of
great transition in this world. That is a privilege and a re-
sponsibility and we should accept it without fear or appre-
hension. History tells us of Man’s struggle for freedom and
in spite of many failures, his achievements and successes
have been remarkable. True freedom is not merely political
but must also be economic and spiritual. Only then can Man
grow and fulfil his destiny. That freedom has also to be
envisaged today not merely in terms of group freedom often
resulting in nations warring against one another but as indi-
vidual freedom within free national groups in the larger con-
text of world freedom and order. The problems of Asia, of
Europe and of America can no longer be dealt with separ-
ately; they are parts of a single world problem. The future
appears to be full of conflict and difficulty but I have little
doubt that the spirit of Man, which has survived so much,
will triumph again.

Speeches (1949-53), pp. 422-3: from Address at

the University of Califomia, October 31, 1949.

APPRECIATION OF AMERICA AND ITS
PEOPLE

You will not expect me to say that I admire everything that
I find here in the United States. I don’t. The United States
has got a reputation abroad — Mrs. Roosevelt referred to it —
of being materialistic and of being tough in matters of
money. Well, I could not imagine that any country could
achieve greatness even in the material field without some
basic moral and spiritual background. Also, Americans are
supposed to be very hardheaded businessmen. I have found
a very great deal of generosity and an enormous amount of
hospitality and friendliness. Now, all this creates that

212

emotional atmosphere that helps in the development of
friendly relations and in the understand of individuals as well
as of nations. I shall go back from here much richer than I
came, richer in experience, richer in the fund of memories
that I take back and richer in the intellectual and emotional
understanding and appreciation of the people of this great
coimtry.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 119: from Address to
the House of Representatives and the Senate,
Washington, D.C., October 13, 1949.

I AM NOT INTEKESTED IN THE AMERICAN
WAY OF LIFE

I think that the American people have many admirable qual-
ities. Yet I am not interested in many aspects of American
life. For instance, I am not interested in providing every
person m India with a motor car, with a washing machine
or with a refrigerator. The thing just does not come to my
head at all. It is not that I am against material comfort, but
I am not sure that it is too good to have too much of it.

Conversations with Mr. Nehru, p. 99.

213

Newspapers

THE POWER OF THE PRESS

Life, after all, may be considered from many points of view
— ^political, economic and other; these are very important
but surely there is something beyond all this; otherwise,
everything that you gain by political thought and economic
welfare, would be without significance. It is most distress-
ing to see the gradual passing of what was gracious in life
and instead, gradual extension and increase of what is vul-
gar, An individual may be good or bad, vulgar or otherwise.
But it is a dangerous thing for a coimtry to go down the
scale of values in this way. In this matter, the press can
perform a most important function. It can render much help
in combating vulgarity. The views of a newspaper on politi-
cal issues may not be accepted. I rather doubt myself if news-
papers have any very great influence on political opinion.
They give the news, of course; but I rather doubt if they
have any great influence politically. You have seen in other
countries — democratic countries — how a great number of
newspapers have supported one party while another has won
the elections. So, it appears that newspapers do not have
the same effect on public opinion as people imagine they do.
I am sure they wield tremendous power, not only through
day to day news but through the colour they give it, through
the restraint or looseness of expression, through vulgarity or
its absence. The daily dose, regularly given, affects the
reader s mind. If you tell him to do this or that, he may
resist; but the slight daily dose, if it is right, improves his
mind and, if it is wrong, corrupts it. There is a certain lack
of social conscience in this country in spite of our hi^
ideals. I react strongly against the idea of regimentation any-
where and much more so in a vast country like India, where
there are so many different approaches, so many different
aspects, to life. But I am also against the loose and incorrect

214

behaviour of the people and their lack of discipline. This
weakens us physically but, what is worse, it weakens us psy-
chologically, too. In this matter, also, I think, the press can
help tremendously, not only by building up a better and a
higher social conscience but also a code of social behaviour
in the little things of life. We tend to think that we need not
worry about the little things of life because we are pre-
occupied with the big things of life. That is utterly and fun-
damentally wrong. If you are, let us say, wedded or attrac-
ted to the ideal of truth and beauty, you cannot follow that
ideal if you deal with the ugly and untruthful in the little
things of life. We take pride in saying that the civilization
of the West is a material one and is opposed to ours which is
spiritual. Having said so, we indulge in things which totally
lack the normal social proprieties. We say we are above
them but, as a matter of fact, it is not quite clear where the
question of spirituality comes in. I do not believe that a
person who ignores the small things of life, the small truths,
the small decencies, the small pleasantnesses, the small
graciousness, can imdertake anything in a big way.

Speeches (1949-53), pp. 463-4: from speech at
the All-In^a Newspaper Editors’ Conference,
New Delhi December 3, 1950.

THE WORLD OF TODAY

The world of today is not for the complacent or the slow of
foot or those who are the slaves of events.

The Unity of India, p. 147.

FREEDOM OF THE PRESS MEANS TOLERANCE
OF THOUGHT

It is not enough to talk of political unity. We must have
something deeper than that. We must have emotional xmity,
which does away with provincial barriers. Only then can
you talk about a really unified India. Only then can you
achieve that broad tolerance of thought and expression
which you lay stress on when you speak of the freedom of
the press. We shall need it more and more m our general

215

relations between different groups and different parts.

Speeches (1953-57), p. 455: from adiress at the
All-India Newspapers Editors’ Conference,
New Delhi, August 13, 1954,

FREEDOM OF THE PRESS DOES NOT MEAN
LICENSE

You talk about the freedom of the press. Should a person
bring out a sheet with the liberty simply to say and do every
kind of wrong thing, under the aegis of the noble doctrine
of the freedom of the press? Obviously anybody can bring
out anything; the only limitation can be that of money or
the number of purchasers he will have. And he can do a lot
of mischief by propagating all kinds of pernicious ideas —
am not thinking in terms of politics. Suppose some noted
gangster started preaching gangsterism, not patently and
obviously but in a disguised way. Well, then the freedom of
the press would mean the preaching of gangsterism or the
preaching of hatred of others, which is common enough in
many countries. It may be that, if you have hatred in your
mind, perhaps it is better to have it out instead of nursing
it; but to preach it from day to day to immature minds,
surely, cannot be good.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 469: from speech at the
All-India Newspaper Editors’ Conference,
New Delhi, September 17, 1952.

WISE PEOPLE ARE SILENT AND HUMBLE

People who are wise do not talk about their wisdom and do
not behave as if they were very superior persons.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 439: from Children’s
Number of Shankers Weekly, New Delhi,
December 3, 1949.

POLITICIANS AND NEWSPAPERMEN ARE
ALIKE

To some extent, politicians and newspapermen or journalists
have much in common. Both presume to talk too much, to

216

write too rauch, to deliver homilies; both, generally speak-
ing, require no qualifications at all for their job.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 471: from speech at the
All-India Newspaper Editors’ Conference,
New Delhi, September 17, 1952.

THE ART OF THINKING DISAPPEARING
SLOWLY

Of the dominating features of the age we live in, one of the
most noticeable is that people are gradually losing the art of
thinking. They often t^e other people’s opinions for
granted. They are regimented, not only in states that are
called totalitarian but in other countries also, by the con-
ditions they live in. They are not allowed to think, and the
person who does not fit in with the majority opinion, has a
very unfortunate time of it. There is no law against him
but the facts are against him. In this matter the newspapers
can perform a very valuable service, although newspapers
inevitably have become more like pocket digests than some-
thing that will enable people to think. I do not know how
far it is possible to get out of the difficulty but it is danger-
ous for people to think less and less, and to be flooded by
pocket magazines or newspapers instead of really worth-
while books. Newspapers have their place but newspapers
do not often help one to think.

Speeches (1953-57), pp. 456-7: from speech at
the All-India Newspaper Editors’ Conference,
New Delhi, August 13, 1954.

I AM A BETTER JUDGE OF THE INDIAN
PEOPLE THAN NEWSPAPER EDITORS

I claim to be a judge of the Indian people and I claim to be
a better judge of them than any editor in India. I tell you I
know them better because — ^it is rather a foolish way of
saying it — I am intensely in love with them, because I have
approached them with affection, because they have been
most generous, extravagantly generous in their affection for
me, and I have the highest opinion of the Indian people. I
think it is degrading to them to imagine that they require

217

sensationalism of the type that appeals to the palate or ex-
cites passions. Of course, they are not angels. All of us have
our faults. We have our evil side and our good side. But I
am quite sure that there is a very great deal of the good
side in the Indian people, and if we appeal to it we shall
always get the right response. If our newspapers keep this
in view and appeal to the good side, they will help in the
emotional integration of India. They will thus do a great
service. Let us think not only of our past common heritage,
but of the India we are building up which will also be a
common heritage of all of us. I would submit to the editors
that through this service to the people, they will ultimately
be serving themselves also.

Speeches (1953-57), p. 456: from speech at the
All-India Newspaper Editors’ Conference,
New Delhi, August 13, 1954.

218

Life and Letters

LIFE A CONTINUOUS STRUGGLE

Life is a continuous struggle of man against man, of man
against his surroundings, a struggle on the physical, intel-
lectual and moral plane out of which new things take shape
and fresh ideas are bom. Destruction and construction go
side by side and both aspects of man and nature are evident.
Life is a principle of growth, not of standing still, a con-
tinuous becoming which does not permit of static conditions.

Today in the world of politics and economics there is a
search for power and yet when power is attained much else
of value has gone. Political trickery and intrigue take the
place of idealism, and cowardice and selfishness the place
of disinterested courage. Form prevails over substance, and
power, so eagerly sought after, somehow fails to achieve
what it aimed at. For power has its limitations, and force
recoils on itself. Neither can control the spirit, though they
may harden and coarsen it. *¥00 can rob an army of its
general’, says Confucius, Ijut not the least of men his will’.

The Discovery of India, p. 683.

THERE SEEMS NO WAY OUT

Sometimes the injustice, the imhappiness, the bratality of
the world oppress us and darken our minds, and we see no
way out. With Matthew Arnold, we feel that there is no
hope in the world and that all we can do is to be true to one
another.

Glimpses of World History, Vol. II, p. 746.

HAD I A PART TO PLAY IN WORLD
HISTORY?

In thinking over the troubles and conflicts of the world, I for-
got to some extent my own personal and national troubles.

219

1 would even feel buoyant occasionally at the fact that I
was alive at this great revolutionary period of the world’s
history. Perhaps I might have also to play some little part
in my own comer of the world in the great changes that
were to come. At other times I would find the atmosphere
of conflict and violence all over the world very depressing.
Worse stiU was the sight of intelligent men and women who
had become so accustomed to human degradation and
slavery that their muids were too coarsened to resent suffer-
ing and poverty and inhumanity. Noisy vulgarity and organ-
ized humbug flourished in this stifling moral atmosphere,
and good men were silent. The triumph of Hitler and the
Brown Terror that followed was a great shock, though I con-
soled myself that it could only be temporary. Almost one
had the feeling of the futility of human endeavour. The
machine went on blindly, what could a little cog in it do?

Autobiography, pp. 363-4.

A STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL MARKS THE
PRESENT DAY

We live in a period of tremendous potential conflict and
every nation begins to think more and more in terms of sur-
vival. When people think in terms of survival, it means that
they are conditioned by great fear and when the desire for
survival asserts itself, then logical thinking and the reason-
ing faculties do not even function. Human bemgs forget
their humanity, because they are just fightin g to escape
some dreadful terror, struggling to survive and they do not
care what happens or what they do in order to survive. This
applies to individuals as well as to nations. This struggle for
survival, which brings out the worst in humanity, is a dread-
ful prospect. If humanity continues to think in terms of en-
compassing fear and of mere survival, then fear itself will
inevitably bring out all the inhuman instincts. When the
real struggle for survival comes, few may survive, and, pos-
sibly, those who survive will not be human.

Speeches (1949-53), pp. 375-6: from Address
at the UNESCO National Indian Commission,
New Delhi, March 24, 1951.

220

THK PAGAN VIEW OP LIFE

It seems to me that people in Buddha’s time were more
advanced in tolerance and compassion than we are, although
they were not so advanced in technology and science. While
I was at Nalanda it struck me that quite apart from the
religious issues there might be something worthwhile in the
pagan view of life, because it is a tolerant view of life. While
it may hold one opinion it respects the opinions of the others
and allows that there may be truth in the others’ opinions
too. It looks at the universe and the mysteries of the universe
and tries to fathom them in a spirit of humility. It realizes
that truth is too big to be grasped at once, that however
much one may know there is always much else to be known,
and that it is possible that others may possess a part of that
truth; and so, while the pagan view of life worships its own
gods, it also does honour to unknown gods.

Speeches (1953-57), p. 433: from speech at the
Indian Science Congress, Calcutta, January
14, 1957.

A NEW AGE HAS DAWNED

We have suddenly emerged into a new age. Of course, every
age is a new age, but, I suppose, it is correct to say that
this age of ours is especially so; and the symbol of the age
is the atom bomb or atomic energy, if you like, but it is well
to remember that today atomic energy is thought of in terms
of atom bombs only. And if the atom bomb is the symbol
of this age, then everything is conditioned by that symbol
— Oman’s thinking, man’s fears and everything else.

We seem to live under this shadow. Are we, with the very
proud and magnificent edifice of our civilization, nearing
the afternoon or evening of this civilization? Have we lost
the creative spirit? Have we lost the energy and faith that
go with the dawn of civilizations? Can we recapture that
spirit of the dawn in this afternoon and convert it into some-
thing other than what it is today or is it inevitable that the
afternoon will be followed by the evening and then by the
shades of night? I do not know but my mind struggles with
this problem. It also struggles with the smaller problems

221

of the day, for we caimot ignore them. The problem of our
civilization, however, is the major question mark of the day.

Speeches (1949-53), pp. 372-3; from Address
at the UNESCO Indian National Commission,
New Delhi, March 24, 1951.

MAGIC OF PERSONALITY

There is no magic in this world except the occasional magic
of human personality and the human mind.

Speeches (1953-57), p. 476; from Address at the
Second Inter-University Youth Festival, New
Delhi, October 23, 1955.

KARMA

The individual and the national group fashion their own
destiny by their own actions; these past actions lead to the
present and what they do today forms the basis of their
tomorrows. Karma, they have called this in India, the law
of cause and efiFect, the destiny which our past activities
create for us. It is not an invariable destiny and many other
factors go to influence it, and the individual’s will is itself
supposed to have some play. If this freedom to vary the
result of past action were not present, then indeed would
we all be mere robots in the grip of an unavoidable fate. Yet
that past Karma is a powerful factor in shaping the individ-
ual and the nation, and nationalism itself is a shadow of it
with all its good and bad memories of the past.

The Discovery of India, pp. 638-9.

ARE WE MERE PUPPETS OF DESTINY

I took up yet another book, George Buch ler s famous play,
‘Danton’s Tod’ or ‘Danton’s Death’, translated into English.
Written over a hundred years ago, it took me back to the
wild and stirring days of the French Revolution, and my
mind rushed backwards and forwards from that Revolution
to tibe mighty one on whose threshold we stand today. Buch-
ner’s words, written to bis flancee, stood up before me, of
how he was impressed by the elemental and historic urge

222

behind the Revolution. 1 have been studying the history of
the Revolution. I felt as if annihilated by the terrible fatal-
ism of history. I see in men’s nature a horrible uniformity,
in human relations an unavoidable violence, exercized by all
and by none. The individual only foam on the wave, great-
ness a mere accident, the mastery of genius a puppet play, a
ridiculous struggle against an iron law, to understand which
is the highest that can be achieved, to rule it impossible. . . .
The “must” is one of the curses with which man is baptized.
The saying: it must needs be that oflFences come, but woe
to that man by whom the offence cometh — ^is horrible. What
is it in us that lies, murders, steals?’

Is it so? Are we mere puppets of destiny, mere foam on
the surface of the waters? A hundred years have gone by
since Buchner wrote, a hundred years of vast human
achievement and of man’s conquest over the elements. And
yet he has not brought under control the passions that con-
sume him, or the elemental lurges ihat move him as an indi-
vidual or in the mass. And we go from tragedy to tragedy.
And the tragedy of many an individual, as of Danton, is
that he is left behind by the processes of history; he has no
function to perform; no longer is he the agent of destiny.
And so because his moment is passed, he cannot act; he
can only protest and bemoan his lot, and weakness comes
over him and consciousness of his approaching doom.

The Unity of India, pp. 218-19.

MODERN WORLD NOT IN TUNE WITH LIFE
OF THE MIND

Now, one of my chief difficulties is this: somehow it seems
to me that the modem world is getting completely out of
tune with what I might call the life of the mind — am leav-
ing out the life of the spirit at the moment. Yet, the modem
world is entirely the outcome of the life of the mind. After
all, it is the human mind that has produced everything that
we see around us and feel around us. Civilization is the
product of the human miud and yet, strangely enough, one
begins to feel that the function of the mind becomes less
and less important in the modem world, or, at any rate, is
no longer so important as it used to be. The mind may count

223

for a great deal in specialized domains; it does and so we
make great progress in those specialized domains of life but,
generally speaking, the mind as a whole counts for less
and less. That is my impression. If it is a correct impression,
then there is something radically wrong with the civilization
that we are building or have built. The changes that are so
rapidly taking place emphasize other aspects of life and
somehow prevent the mind from functioning as it should
and as perhaps it used to do in the earlier periods of the
world’s history. If that is true, then surely it is not a good
outlook for the world, because the very basis on which our
civilization has grown, on which man has risen step by step
to the great heights on which he stands today, the very
foundation of that edifice, is shaken.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 382: from address at
the UNESCO Symposium, New Delhi, Dec-
ember 20, 1951.

MODERN CIVILIZED LIFE IS ARTIFICIAL

It would seem that the kind of modem civilization that
developed first in the West and spread elsewhere, and
especially the metropolitan life that has been its chief
feature, produce an unstable society which gradually loses
its vitality. Life advances in many fields and yet it loses its
grip; it becomes more artificial and slowly ebbs away. More
and more stimulants are needed — dmgs to enable us to sleep
or to perform our other natural functions, foods and drinks
that tickle the palate and produce a momentary exhilaration
at the cost of weakening tbe system, and special devices to
give us a temporary sensation of pleasure and excitement —
and after the stimulation comes the reaction and a sense^of
emptiness. With all its splendid manifestations and real
achievements, we have created a civilization which has
something counterfeit about it. We eat ersatz foods pro-
duced with the help of ersatz fertilizers; we indulge in ersatz
emotions, and our human relations seldom go below the
superficial plane. The advertiser is one of the symbols of our
age with his continuous and raucous attempts to delude us
and dull our powers of perception and induce us to buy
unnecessary and even harmful products. I am not blaming

224

others for this state of afFairs. We are all products of this
age with the characteristics of our generation, equally en-
titled to credit or blame. Certainly I am as much a part of
this civilization, that I both appreciate and criticize, as any
one else, and my habits and ways of thought are conditioned
by it.

The Discovery of India, p. 676.

PRESENT DAY LIFE BETRAYS BOREDOM

Laxity and indulgence flourish in a wealthy leisure class
which has little to do and takes to sex to escape from ennui
and boredom.

Soviet Russia, p. 123.

LIFE AN ORGANIC WHOLE

Life is an organic whole and it cannot be separated into
water-tight compartments.

The Unity of India, p. 176.

THE UNITY OF LIFE

The human mind appears to have a passion for fin di n g out
sime kind of unity in life, in nature and the universe. That
desire, whether it is justified or not, must fulfil some essen-
tial need of the mind. The old philosophers were ever seek-
ing this, and even modem scientists are impelled by this
urge. All our schemes and planning, our ideas of education
and social and political organization, have at their back the
search for unity and harmony. We are told now by some able
thinkers and philosophers that this basic conception is false
and there is no such thing as order or unity in this accidental
imiverse. That may be so, but there can be little doubt that
even this mistaken belief, if such it was, and the search for
unity in India, Greece and elsewhere yielded positive results
and produced a harmony, a balance and a richness in life.

The Discovery of India, p. 172.

p 225

FAITH

No man can build or construct anything beautiful unless he
has faith.

Independence and After, p. 391: from speech
at Annual Meeting of Central Board of Irriga-
tion, New Delhi, December 5, 1948.

INDIAN SCHOLARS MUST MAKE UP LOST

TIME

The hard discipline, reverent approach and insight of the
English translators of the Authorized Version of the Bible,
not only produced a noble book, but gave to the English
language strength and dignity. Generations of European
scholars and poets have laboured lovingly over Greek and
Latin classics and produced fine translations in various
European languages. And so even common folk can share
to some extent in those cultures and, in their drab lives, have
glimpses of truth and loveliness. Unfortunately this work has
yet to be done with the Sanskrit classics. When it will be
done, or whether it will be done at all, I do not know. Our
scholars grow in numbers and grow in scholarship and we
have our poets too; but between the two there is a wide
and ever-growing gap. Our creative tendencies are turned
in a different direction, and the many demands that the
world of today makes upon us hardly give us time for the
leisured study of the classics. Especially in India we have
to look another way and make up for long lost time; we have
been too much immersed in the classics in the past, and
because we lost our own creative instincts, we ceased to be
inspired even by those classics which we claimed to cherish
so much. Translations, I suppose, from the Indian classics,
will continue to appear and scholars will see to it that
the Sanskrit words and names are properly spelt and have
all die necessary diacritical marks, and there are plenty of
notes and explanations and comparisons; there will be every-
thing, in fact, literally and conscientiously rendered, only
the living spirit will be missing. What was a thing of life
and joy, so lovely and musical and full of imaginative daring,
will become old and flat and stale, with neither youth nor

226

beauty, but with only the dust of the scholar’s study and
the smell of midnight oil.

The Discovery of India, pp. 184-5.

A LIVING LANGUAGE

A living language is a throbbing, vital thing, ever changing,
ever growing and mirroring the people who speak and write.
It has its roots in the masses, though its superstructure may
represent the culture of a few. How, then, can we change it
or shape it to our liking by resolutions or orders from above?
And yet I find this widely prevalent notion that we can force
a language to behave in a particular manner if we only will
it so. It is true that under modem conditions, with mass
education and mass propaganda through the Press, printed
books, cinema and the radio, a language can be varied much
more rapidly than in past times. And yet the variation is but
the mirror of the rapid changes taking place among the
people who use it. If a language loses touch with the people,
it loses its vitality and becomes an artificial, lifeless thing
instead of the thing of life and strength and joy that it
should be. Attempts to force the growth of a language in a
particular direction are likely to end in distorting it and
cmshing its spirit.

The Unity of India, pp. 242-3.

LANGUAGE IS THE VEHICLE OF THOUGHT

A language is something infinitely greater than grammar
and philology. It is the poetic testament of the genius of a
race and a culture, and the living embodiment of the
thoughts and fancies that have moulded them. Words
change their meanings from age to age and old ideas trans-
form themselves into new, often keeping their old attire. It
is difficult to capture the meaning, much less the spirit, of
an old word or phrase. Some kind of a romantic and poetical
approach is necessary if we are to have a glimpse into that
old meaning and into the minds of those who used the
language in former days. The richer and more abundant the
language, the greater the difficulty.

The Discovery of India, p. 183.

227

A LANGUAGE GROWS SPONTANEOUSLY

A language ultimately grows from the people; it is seldom
that it can be imposed. Any attempt to impose a particular
form of language on an unwilling people has usually met
with the strongest opposition and had actually resulted in
something the very reverse of what the promoters thought. I
would beg this House to consider the fact and to realize, if
it agrees with me, that the surest way of developing a nat-
ural all-India language is not so much to pass resolutions
and laws on the subject, but to work to that end in other
ways.

Independence and After, pp. 380-1: from
speech at the Constituent Assembly, New
Delhi, November 8, 1948.

PRESENT DAY WRITERS SHOULD REFLECT
THE SPUTNIK AGE

Writers should reflect the thinking of the present age of
sputniks and outer space in their writings to lift the people
from thinking in the narrower fields of State boundaries or
language rivalries. In India there is the problem of lan-
guages. It is no good to have a controversy over language.
Languages might be different but basic thinking is one.
That is a far more important factor. The thing that is impor-
tant is that there should be friendliness between the lan-
guages of India. PEN had to bring about this friendliness.
That was its main purpose . . .

Literary works should reflect present day fife and prob-
lems. Life is gradually becoming more and more technical
and scientific. The languages consisted of more and more
technological terms. It is said that to the English language
about 5,000 words are added annually. I am glad to say that
there is a general understanding that in regard to all tech-
nical and scientific words we should have words approxi-
mating to international expressions. I have no doubt that the
Indian languages will absorb these words easily and not
attempt the coining of new words. What need is there for
trying to coin a new word for the expression hicycle’? I
think, if we advance in this way, adapting some common

228

phrases and terms, many controversies will not arise.

We seem to be at the end of a world and we are no longer
earthbound and, may be, we enter outer space. We have
sputniks and such other things. As such we should no longer
be narrow-minded and think of this ‘Pradesh’ and that
‘Pradesh’. In the ‘new world’ that is developing, the whole
globe is a small place, what to talk of a ‘Pradesh’ or a
country. We should, therefore, be broadminded and have a
wider outlook.

The Hindu, dated 2nd January, 1959: from
Inaugural Address at PEN Conference at
Bhubaneshwar, January 1, 1959.

THE PLACE OF ENGLISH

I laid great stress in my speech on the necessity of a con-
siderable number of our people knowing foreign languages,
more especially English. This was in relation to our develop-
ment programmes and our Second and subsequent Five-
Year Plans. I pointed out that it would not be possible for
us to go ahead with these plans unless there was a high
standard of technical and scientific education and that this
standard could not be obtained at this stage without a full
knowledge of at ICast one foreign language. As a matter of
fact, scientists m any country today have to acquire know-
ledge of several languages in order to keep abreast of scien-
tific hterature . . .

My positive stress was on a foreign language being learnt
adequately. In the circumstances in India, this foreign
language would inevitably be English, though I hope that
other languages such as French, German, Spanish, Russian
and Chinese would also be learnt. English today is by far
the most widespread and important world language and
probably two-thirds of the scientific and technical books in
the world are published in English . . .

I fear that many of our people have little conception of
the world we live in — ^this world of automation and atomic
energy. We are living through a period of revolution and
we have to face a struggle for survival for our country and
not merely for achieving a somewhat higher standard. We
go down if we caimot keep pace with these technological

229

developments and indeed try to go ahead of other coun-
tries . . .

But there are other aspects. One, I have mentioned above,
about the necessity of knowing English or any other foreign
language for scientific and technological purposes. Also, if I
may say so with all respect, we are a narrow-minded people
and are apt to live in oiur own shells. There is the danger of
our getting cut off from the world of thought in all its aspects
and becoming complacent in our own little world of India.
For this reason also contacts with foreign languages are

Speeches (1949-53), pp. 422-6: from a State-
ment made on September 8, 1956.

THE WEALTH AND VARIETY OF LIFE

Life is rich and varied, and though it has many swamps
and marshes and muddy places, it has also the great sea,
and the mountains, and snow and glaciers, and wonderful
starlit nights, and the love of family and friends, and the
comradeship of workers in a common cause, and music, and
books, and the empire of ideas. So that each one of us may
well say:

‘Lord, though I lived on earth, the child of earth.

Yet was I fathered by the starry sky.’

Glimpses of World History, Vol. II, p. 1503.

THE STREAM OF LIFE

The stream of life goes on in spite of famine and war, full
of its inherent contradictions and finding sustenance even
in those contradictions and the disasters that follow in their
train. Nature renews itself and covers yesterday’s battlefield
with flowers and green grass, and the blood that was shed
feeds the soil and gives strength and colour to new hfe.
Human beings with their unique quality of possessing mem-
ory live in their, storied and remembered pasts and seldom
catch up to the present in ‘The worlde that neweth every
daie’. And that present slips into the past before we are
hardly aware of it; today, child of yesterday, yields place
to its own offspring, tomorrow. Winged victory ends in a

230

welter of blood and mud; and out of the heavy trials of
seeming defeat the spirit emerges with new strength and
wider vision. The weak in spirit yield and are eliminated, but
others carry the torch forward and hand it to the standard-
bearers of tomorrow.

The Discovery of India, pp. 607-8.

231

Work

NO MAN DIED OF HARD WORK IN A GOOD

CAUSE

There is a time for work and there is a time for play, just as
there is a time for laughter and there is a time for tears. And
today is the time for work in this nation. For, this generation
of Ours, if I may say so, is condemned to hard labour. You
cannot get out of it, however you may want to. We are all
condemned to hard labour. But, then, it makes all the dif-
ference what kind of labour we do, in what spirit we
approach it. If it is labour, good work, then that is an up-
lifting thing. It does not matter how hard you work. People
come and tell me, do not work so hard, you do not sleep
enough. As if that counts! What counts is something entirely
different. No man ever died of hard work, if he is working
in a good cause, if his spirit is in it, but people do die of
ennui and other things. So you and I have got to work.

Independence and After, p. 128: from speech
at the Silver Jubilee Convocation of the Luck-
now University, January 28, 1949.

NOBILITY OF WORK

Some foolish people imagine that it is degrading to have to
work for one’s living!

Glimpses of World History, Vol. II, p. 845.

UNEMPLOYMENT A CURSE

Unemployment is the bane of a nation.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 64: from speech at the
inauguration of the Harijan Convention,
Wardha, November 1, 1952.

THE TEST OF A MAN’s WORTH

It is a wrong way to assess a man’s worth by the salary

232

drawn by him or the designation attached to his post. Such
a notion does not appeal to me because, as you know, I
entered the administration at quite an advanced age. What-
ever I learnt about a man’s worth had nothing to do with
his salary, with his dress or with his house. All my life I
have gauged people from altogether a different angle, and
I still believe in the same method. It is possible that I may
consider a peon with more pride and respect than his own
officer, and I do not see any flaw m it. Essentially, respect
is due for work and not for the salary drawn. A man may
be a famous poet, but his income may be meagre; still, he
should and will be respected much more than officers draw-
ing high salaries. In short, the idea of money being the yard-
stick for assessing a man’s worth has clouded the issue and
created confusion. The practice of grading people according
to their status in official capacity should go.

Speeches (195$-57), pp. 119-20: from inaugural
address at the annual meeting of the Central
Board of Irrigation and Power, New Delhi,
October 26, 1953.

INDIANS LOOK DOWN ON MANUAL LABOUR

We have got to change our mentality. At present we are apt
to look down on manual labour and that tendency is respon-
sible for our present plight. There are two kinds of unem-
ployment in our country — ^there are people who do not find
work and there are those who are not willing to work. Dur-
ing my recent tour of Assam I came across a young girl, who
was carrying a load of firewood on her head. I stopped and
spoke to her. I was surprised because she spoke perfect
English. She had been educated in England. Her parents
had lost their all in Pakistan and were reduced to penury. In
spite of her background she did not hesitate to do manual
work. The most important thing is the will to work. The
prosperity of a nation is judged by the number of people
who are employed.

Independence and After, p. 152: from speech
at Industries Conference, New Delhi, Decem-
ber 18, 1947.

233

A SEAT OF AUTHORITY IS THE WORST
PUNISHMENT FOR AN INDIAN TODAY

The hardest sentence you can give to any individual today
in India is to put him in a seat of authority.

Independence and After, p. 128: from speech
at the Silver Jubilee Convocation of the Luck-
now University, January 28, 1949.

NO IMAGINATION IN OUR WORK

It is sad that imagination counts for so little today and we
work in grooves.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 68: from speech at the
Silver Jubilee Celebrations of the Central
Board of Irrigation and Power, New Delhi,
November 17, 1952.

GREAT TASKS SUCCEED WHEN TIME IS
FAVOURABLE

No man can succeed in great tasks unless the time is ripe
and the atmosphere is favourable.

Glimpses of World History, Vol. I, p. 482.

PRIDE IN WORK

You are young. I should like you to have the pride of youth
and the ambition of youth to do something worthwhile and
big. All of you may not be geniuses, but some of you might
yet do worthwhile things in some department of human
activity or other. I do not like people who have no pride and
ambition and are just sloppy people.

I am not using the words pride and ambition in a small
personal sense. I do not mean the pride of getting money,
which is the silliest of all types of pride. Pride should con-
sist in doing your job in the best possible manner. If you
are a scientist, think of becoming an Einstein, not merely
a reader in your University, If you are a medical man, think
of some discovery which will bring healing to the human
race. If you are an engineer, aim at some new invention.

234

The mere act of aiming at somet hin g big makes you big.

Speeches (1953-57), p. 476: from address at the
Inter-University Youth Festival, New Delhi,
October 23, 1955.

‘work is worship’

These days the biggest temple and mosque and gurdwara
is the place where man works for the good of mankind.

Speeches (1953-57), p. 3: from speech at the
opening of the Nangal Canal, July 8, 1954.

URGE TO ACTION

This urge to action, this desire to experience life through
action, has influenced all my thought and activity. Even
sustained thinking, apart from being itself a kind of action,
becomes part of the action to come. It is not something en-
tirely abstract, in the void, unrelated to action and life. The
past becomes something that leads up to the present, the
moment of action, the future something that flows from it;
and aU three are inextricably intertwined and interrelated.

The Discovery of India, p. 10.

I AM THE FIRST SERVANT OF INDIA

They call me the Prime Minister of India, but it would be
more appropriate if I were called the first servant of India.
In this age, it is not titles and position that matter but
service.

Independence and After, pp. 362-3: from a
broadcast inaugurating the New Forces Pro-
gramme of the All-India Radio, New Delhi,
December 1, 1947.

THE GOSPEL OF WORK IS ENSHRINED IN
THE GIT A

The Gita says, work we must for results, but not to care too
much about results. It really means, to work but not to be
so utterly attached to the results that they upset one. In

235

other words, to have a certain detachment even in the midst
o£ action. How far this is possible I do not know. Personally,
I am not a very detached person. Occasionally I get excited.
Yet apart from these moments of excitement, I can detach
myself. From the purely physical or mental point of view
that may be a good thing. It helps in maintaining one’s com-
posure and one’s mental and physical health.

Conversations with Mr. Nehru, p. 144.

Men and Women"

MAHATMA GANDHI

For it was clear that this little man of poor physique had
something of steel in him, something rock-hke which did
not yield to physical powers, however great they might be.
And in spite of his unimpressive features, his loin-cloth and
bare body, there was a royalty and a kingliness in him which
compelled a willing obeisance from others. Consciously and
deliberately meek and humble, yet he was full of power
and authority, and he knew it, and at times he was imperi-
ous enough, issuing commands which had to be obeyed. His
calm, deep eyes would hold one and gently probe into the
depths; his voice, clear and limpid, would purr its way into
the heart and evoke an emotional response. Whether his
audience consisted of one person or a thousand, the charm
and magnetism of the man passed on to it, and each one had
a feeling of communion with the speaker. This feeling had
little to do with the mind, though the appeal to the mind
was not wholly ignored. But mind and reason had definitely
second place. This process of ‘spell-binding’ was not brought
about by oratory or the hypnotism of silken phrases. The
language was always simple and to the point and seldom
was an unnecessary word used. It was the utter sincerity of
the man and his personality that gripped; he gave the im-
pression of tremendous inner reserves of power. Perhaps also
it was a tradition that had grown up about him which
helped in creating a suitable atmosphere. A stranger, ignor-
ant of this tradition and not in harmony with the surround-
ings, would probably not have been touched by that spell,
or, at any rate, not to the same extent. And yet one of the
most remarkable things about Gandhiji was, and is, his cap-
acity to win over, or at least to disarm, his opponents.

Autobiography, pp. 129-30.

' Note, For further details about some of the people mentioned in this
section, see pp. 263-67 Notes on Personalities.

237

And then Gandhi came. He was like a powerful current of
fresh air that made us stretch ourselves and take deep
breaths, like a beam of light that pierced the darkness and
removed the scales from our eyes, like a whirlwind that
upset many things but most of all the working of people's
minds. He did not descend from the top; he seemed to
emerge from the millions of India, speaking their language
and incessantly drawing attention to them and their appall-
ing condition. Get off the backs of these peasants and work-
ers, he told us, all you who live by their exploitation; get rid
of the system that produces this poverty and misery. Politi-
cal freedom took new shape then and acquired a new con-
tent. Much that he said we only partially accepted or did
not accept at all. But all this was necessary. The essence of
his teaching was fearlessness and truth and action allied to
these, always keeping the welfare of the masses in view. The
greatest gift for an individual or a nation, so we had been
told in our ancient books, was abhaya, fearlessness, not
merely bodily courage but the absence of fear from the
mind. Janaka and Yajnavalka had said, at the dawn of our
history, that it was the function of the leaders of a people
to make them fearless. But the dominant impulse in India
under British rule was that of fear, pervasive, oppressing,
strangling fear; fear of the army, the police, the widespread
secret service; fear of the oflBcial class; fears of laws meant
to suppress and of prison; fear of the land-lord's agent;
fear of the moneylender; fear of unemployment and
starvation, which were always on the threshold. It was
against this all pervading fear that Gandhi’s quiet and deter-
mined voice was raised: Be not afraid.

The Discovery of India, p. 427.

Wherever he sat became a temple and where he trod
became hallowed ground.

He taught us the way of fearlessness, of unity, of tolerance
and peace.

He was, perhaps, the greatest symbol of the India of the
past, and may I say, of the In^a of the future, that we
could have had.

238

He became a great internationalist, believing in the essen-
tial unity of man, the underlying unity of all religions, and
the needs of humanity, and more especially devoting him-
self to the service of the poor, the distressed and the
oppressed everywhere.

He shone like a beacon not only for India but for the whole
world.

In a dissolving world Mahatma Gandhi has been like a
rock of purpose and a lighthouse of truth.

That light represented something more than the immediate
present, it represented the living, the eternal truths, remind-
ing us of the right path, drawing us from error, taking this
ancient country to freedom.

He was the Victorious One in life and in death.

Independence and After, pp. 30, 35, 22, 29,
24, 116, 17 and 27: from speeches made on
various occasions.

THE DEATH OF MAHATMA GANDHI

Even in his death there was a magnificence and complete
artistry. It was from every point of view a fitting climax to
the man and to the life he had lived. He died in the fulness
of his powers and as he would no doubt have liked to die,
at the moment of prayer. He died a martyr to the cause
of xmity to which he had always been devoted and for
which he had worked unceasingly, more specially during
the past year or more. He died suddenly as all men should
wish to die. There was no fading of the body or a long
illness or the forgetfulness of the mind that comes with age.
Why then should we grieve for him? Our memories of him
will be of the Master, whose step was light to the end,
whose smile was infectious and whose eyes were full of
laughter. We shall associate no failing powers with him of
body or of mind. He lived and he died at the top of his
strength and powers, leaving a picture in our minds and in

239

the mind of the age that we live in that can never fade
away.

That picture will not fade. But. he did something much
more than that, for he entered into the very stuff of our
minds and spirits and changed them and moulded them. The
Gandhi generation will pass away, hut that stuff will remain
and will affect each succeeding generation, for it has be-
come a part of India’s spirit. Just when we were growing
poor in spirit in this country, Bapu came to enrich us and
make us strong, and the strength he gave us was not for
a moment or a day or a year but it was something added on
to our national inWitance.

Nehru on Gandhi, pp. 159-60.

MOTILAL NEHRU

How different was my father from him! But in him too there
was strength of personality and a measure of kinghness, and
the lines of Swinburne he had quoted would apply to him
also. In any gathering in which he was present he would
inevitably be the centre and the hub. Whatever the place
he sat at table it would become, as an eminent English judge
said later, the head of the table. He was neither meek nor
mild, and, again, unlike Gandhiji, he seldom spared those
who differed from him. Consciously imperious he evoked
great loyalty as well as bitter opposition. It was difficult to
feel neutral about him; one had to like him or dislike him.
With a broad forehead, tight lips and a determined chin, he
had a marked resemblance to the busts of the Roman
Emperors in the museums in Italy. Many friends in Italy
who saw his photograph with us remarked on this resem-
blance. In later years especially, when his head was covered
with silver hair — ^unlike me, he kept his hair to the end —
there was a magnificence about him and a grand manner,
which is sadly to seek in this world today. I suppose I am
partial to him, but I miss his noble presence in a world full
of pettiness and weakness. I look round in vain for that
grand manner and splendid strength that was his.

Autobiography, p. 130.

240

SHANKAEACHARYA

Shankara was a man of amazing energy and vast activity.
He was no escapist retiring into his shell or into a comer
of the forest, seeking his own individual perfection and
oblivious of what happened to others. Bom in Malabar in
the far south of India, he travelled incessantly all over India,
meeting innumerable people, arguing, debating, reasoning,
convincing, and filling them with a part of his own passion
and tremendous vitality. He was evidently a man who was
intensely conscious of his mission, a man who looked upon
the whole of India from Cape Comorin to the Himalayas as
his field of action and as something that held together cul-
turally and was infused by the same spirit, though this might
take many external forms. He strove hard to synthesize the
diverse currents that were troubling the mind of India of
his day and to build a unity of outlook of that diversity. In
a brief life of thirty-two years he did the work of many long
lives and left such an impress of his powerful mind and
rich personality on India that it is very evident today. He
was a curious mixture of a philosopher and a scholar, an
agnostic and a mystic, a poet and a saint, and in addition
to all this, a practical reformer and an able organizer. He
built up, for the first time within the Brahmanical fold, ten
religious orders and of these four are very much alive today.
He established four great maths or monasteries, locating
them far from each other, almost at the four comers of
India. One of these was in the south at Sringeri in Mysore,
another at Puri on the east coast, the third at Dvaraka in
Kathiawad on the West coast, and the fourth at Badrinath
in the heart of the Himalayas. At the age of thirty-two this
Brahmin from the tropical South died at Kedamath in the
upper snow-covered reaches of the Himalayas.

It would seem that Shankara wanted to add to this sense
of national unity and common consciousness. He functioned
on the intellectual, philosophical and religious plane and
tried to bring about a greater unity of thought all over the
country. He functioned also on the popular plane in many
ways, destroying many a dogma and opening the door of
his philosophic sanctuary to every one who was capable of
entering it. Bv locating his four great monasteries in the
o ' 241

north, south, east and west of India, he evidently wanted
to encourage the conception of a culturally united India.
These four places had partly been even previously, and now
become more so, places of pilgrimage from all parts of the
country.

The Discovery of India, pp. 214-16.

SIB M. VISVESVAR A YY A

I have come back to this organization (the All-India Manu-
facturers’ Organization) after a number of years. So far as
I can remember, I was first attracted to it for a variety of
reasons, among them being the dominating presence in this
organization of Shri Visvesvara 3 ya, and I should like to pay
a tribute right at the commencement today to this grand old
man of India. I am amazed and inspired by his vitality, by
his deep interest, even at his fairly advanced age, in the
industrial and economic development of India. He writes to
me from time to time and indicates his impatience at the
slowness of progress and sometimes thinks that our Planning
Commission would do much better if it followed his advice
more closely than it has done.

Speeches (1953-57), p. 83: from Address to the
Conference of All-India Manxifacturers’ Org-
anization, New Delhi, April 14, 1956.

KALIDASA

Kalidasa is acknowledged to be the greatest poet and dram-
atist of Sanskrit Literature. He was among the fortunate
whom life treated as a cherished son and who experienced
its beauty and tenderness more than its harsh and rough
edges. His writings betray this love of life and a passion for
nature’s beauty.

One of Kalidasa’s long poems is the Meghaduta, the
Cloud Messenger. A lover, made captive and separated from
his beloved, asked a cloud, during the rainy season, to carry
his message of desperate longiug to her. To this poem and
to Kalidasa, the American scholar Ryder has paid a splendid
tribute. He refers to the two parts of the poem and says: ‘The
former half is descriptive of external nature, yet interwoven

242

with human feeling; the latter half is a picture of a human
heart, yet the picture is framed in natural beauty. So exquis-
itely is the thing done that none can say which half is
superior. Of those who read this perfect poem in the original
text, some are moved by the one, some by the other. Kalidasa
understood in the fifth centiuy what Emrope did not leam
until the nineteenth, and even now comprehends only imper-
fectly, that the world was not made for man, that man
reaches his full stature only as he reahses the dignity and
worth of life that is not human. That Kalidasa seized this
truth is a magnificent tribute to his intellectual power, a
quality quite as necessary to great poetry as perfection of
form. Poetical fluency is not rare; intellectual grasp is not
very uncommon; but the combination has not been found
perhaps more than a dozen times since the world began.
Because he possessed this harmonious combination, Kalidasa
ranks not with Anacreon and Horace and Shelley but with
Sophocles, Virgil, Milton.’

The Discovery of India, pp. 175-6.

C. R. DAS

During this period there grew up a close friendship between
my father and Mr. C. R. Das. It was something much more
than political camaraderie. There was a warmth and inti-
macy in it that I was not a little surprised to notice, since inti-
mate friendships are perhaps rarely formed at advanced ages.
My father had a host of acquaintances, and had the gift of
laughing his way through them, but he was chary of friend-
ship, and in later years he had grown rather C 5 mical. And yet
between him and Deshabandhu the barriers seemed to fall,
and they took each other to heart. My father was nine years
older, but was, physically, probably the stronger and the
healthier of the two. Though both had the same background
of legal training and success at the bar, they differed in many
ways. Mr. Das, in spite of being a lavyyer, was a poet and had
a poet’s emotional outlook — believe he has written fine
poetry in Bengali. He was an orator and he had a religious
temperament. My father was more practical and prosaic; he
was a great organizer, and he had little of religion in him. He
had always been a fighter, ready to receive and give hard

243

blows. Those whom he considered fools he suffered not at all,
or at any rate not gladly; and opposition he could not tolerate.
It seemed to him a challenge requiring the use of a broom.
The two, my father and Deshabandhu, unlike in some ways
as they were, fitted in and made a remarkable and eflfective
combination for the leadership of a party, each in some meas-
ure supplying the other s deficiencies. And between the two
of them there was absolute confidence, so much so that each
had authorized the other to use his name for any statement or
declaration, even without previous reference or consultation.

Autobiography, pp. 104-5.

RANI LAKSHMI BAI OF JHANSI

In the midst of the horrors of the Revolt (the Great Indian
Mutiny) and its suppression, one name stands out, a bright
spot in a dark ground. This is the name of Lakshmi Bai, Rani
of Jhansi, a girl-widow, twenty years of age, who doimed a
man’s dress and came out to lead her people against the
British. Many a story is told of her spirit and abihty and im-
daunted courage. Even the English general who opposed her
has called her ‘the best and bravest’ of the rebel leaders. She
died while fighting.

Glimpses of World History, Vol. II, pp. 648-9.

RAJENDRA PRASAD

The head of both the Relief Committee and the Bihar Con-
gress organization was Rajendra Babu, the unquestioned
leader of Bihar. Looking like a peasant, a typical son of the
soil of Bihar, he is not impressive at first sight till one notices
his keen frank eyes and his earnest look. One does not forget
that look or those eyes, for through them truth looks at you
and there is no doubting them. Peasant-like, he is perhaps
a little limited in outlook, somewhat unsophisticated from the
point of view of the modem world, but his outstanding
ability, his perfect straightness, his energy and his devotion
to the cause of Indian freedom are qualities which have made
him loved not only in his own province but throughout India.
No one in any province in Incfia occupies quite that univers-
ally acknowledged position of leadership as Rajen Babu. Few

244

others, if any, can be said to have imbibed more thoroughly
the message of Gandhiji.

Autobiography, p. 489.

S ARO JINI N Ainu

Here was a person of great brilliance. Here was a person, vital
and vivid. Here was a person with so many gifts, but above
all with some gifts which made her unique. She began life
as a poetess. In later years, when the compulsion of events
drew her into the national struggle and she threw herself into
it with all the zest and fire she possessed, she did not write
much poetry with pen and paper, but her whole life became
a poem and a song. And she did that amazing thing; she
infused artistry and poetry into our national struggle. Just as
the Father of the Nation had infused moral grandeur and
greatness into the struggle, Mrs. Sarojini Naidu gave it
artistry and poetry and that zest for life and that indomitable
spirit which not only faced disaster and catastrophe, but
faced them with a light heart and with a song on her lips and
a smile on her face. Now, I do not think, being myself a poli-
tician which most of us are, that hardly any other gift was
more valuable to our national life than this lifting it out of
the plane of pure politics to a higher artistic sphere, which
she succeeded in doing in some measure.

Looking back upon her life, one sees an astonishmg com-
bination of gifts. One, here is a life full of vitality; one, here
are fifty years of existence — ^not merely existence, but a vital,
dynamic existence — touching many aspects of our life, cul-
tural and political. And whatever she touched, she infused
with something of her fire. She was indeed a pillar of fire.
And then again, she was like cool running water, soothing
and uplifting and bringing down the passion of her politics to
the cooler levels of human beings. So it is difficult for one to
speak about her except that one realizes that here was a mag-
nificence of spirit and it is gone . . .

I said she was a curious combination of so many things;
she represented in herself a rich culture into which flowed
various currents which have made Indian culture as great as
it is. She herself was a composite both of various currents of
culture in India as weU as various currents of culture both in

245

the East and the West. And so she was, while being a very
great national figure, also truly an internationalist, and
wherever she might go in the wide world she was recog-
nized as such and as one of the great ones of the earth.

She stood more than any single person in India for the
unity of India in all its phases, for the unity of its cultural
content, the unity of its geographical areas. It was a passion
with her. It was the very texture of her life. It is well to
remember when we sometimes fall into narrower grooves,
that greatness has never come from the narrowness of mind,
or again, greatness for a nation as for an individual comes
from a wide vision, a wide perspective, an inclusive outlook
and a human approach to Me. So she became an interpreter
in India of the many great things that the West had pro-
duced, and she became an interpreter in other parts of India
of India’s rich culture. She became the ideal ambassador and
the ideal link between the East and the West, and between
the various parts and groups in India.

Indeper^nce and After, pp. 399-402: from a
commemorative speech at the Constituent
Assembly, New Delhi, March 3, 1949.

M. A. JINNAH

Mr. Jinnah is a lone figure in the Moslem League, keeping
apart from his closest co-workers, widely but distantly re-
spected, more feared than liked. About his ability as a poli-
tician there is no doubt, but somehow that ability is tied up
with the peculiar conditions of British rule in India today.
He shines as a lawyer-poUtician, as a tactician, as one who
thinks that he holds the balance of power between nationalist
India and the British. If conditions were different and he had
to face real problems, political and economic, it is difficult to
say how far his ability would carry him. Perhaps he is him-
self doubtful of this, although he has no small opinion of
himself. This may be an explanation for that subconscious
urge in him against change and to keep things going as they
are, of an avoidance of discussion and calm consideration of
problems with people who do not wholly agree with him. He
fits into this present pattern; whether he or anybody else will
fit into a new pattern it is difficult to say. What passion

246

moves him, what objectives does he strive for? Or is it that
he has no dominating passion except the pleasure he has in
playing a fascinating political game of chess in which he
often has an opportunity to say check? He seems to have a
hatred for the Congress which has grown with the years. His
aversions and dislikes are obvious, but what does he like?
With all his strength and tenacity, he is a strangely negative
person whose appropriate symbol might well be a ‘no’. Hence
all attempts to understand his positive aspect fail and one
cannot come to grips with him.

The Discovery of India, p. 467.

MAULANA ABUL KALAM AZAD

Soon after my return from Europe in November I was asked
about the Congress Presidentship. Who was going to be
President next year? Would I agree to accept office again? I
had not given a moment’s thought to the matter and was
not particularly interested. But I was quite clear in my own
mind that I would not stand for re-election. What occupied
my mind was not the personality of the President-to-be, but
the policy that the Congress should follow, both nationally
and internationally. Some time later I had occasion to discuss
this matter with Gandhiji. I gave it as my decided opinion
that Maulana Abul Kalam Azad would be the right choice
for the Presidentship. He seemed to me just to fit in from
every point of view. He could carry on the old tradition of
the Congress and yet not in any narrow or sectarian way. He
had breadth of vision, a deep understanding of events, and
round him every section of the Congress would gather and
offer co-operation. He represented to me the ideal emblem of
united working which I sought, especially at this critical
juncture.

The Unity of India, pp. 126-7.

THE MOUNTBATTENS

We have many failings and many weaknesses in India, but
when we see friendship for India and service for India, our
hearts go out and those who are friends of India and those
who serve India are our comrades, whoever they might be
or wherever they might be. And so, the people of India, real-

247

izing that Lord and Lady Mountbatten undoubtedly were
friendly to India and the Indian people, undoubtedly were
serving them, gave their aflFection and love. They could not
give much else. You may have many gifts and presents, but
there is nothing more rare or precious than the love and
affection of the people. You have seen yourself. Sir and
Madam, how that love and affection work. If I may say so,
they are the most precious of gifts.

You came here, Sir, with a high reputation, but many a
reputation has foundered in India. You lived here dmring a
period of great difficulty and crisis, and yet your reputation
has not foundered. That is a remarkable feat. Many of us
who came in contact with you from day to day in these days
of crisis learnt much from you, we gathered confidence when
sometimes we were rather shaken, and I have no doubt that
the many lessons we have learnt from you will endure and
will help us in oiur work in the future.

To you. Madam, I should like to address myself also. The
gods or some good fairy gave you beauty and high intelli-
gence, and grace and charm and vitality, great gifts, and she
who possesses them is a great lady wherever she goes. But
unto those that have, even more shall be given, and they
gave you something which was even rarer than those gifts,
the human touch, the love of humanity, the urge to serve
those who suffer and are in distress, and this amazing mix-
ture of qualities resulted in a radiant personality and in the
healer’s touch. Wherever you have gone, you have brought
solace, you have brought hope and encouragement. Is it sur-
prising, therefore, that the people of India should love you
and look up to you as one of ihemselves and should grieve
that you are going? . . .

May I say a word about Pamela Mountbatten? She came
straight from school, and possessing all the charm she does,
she did a grown-up person’s work in the troubled scene of
India. I do not know if all of you who are present here know
the work she has done, but those who do, know well how
splendid that has been and how much it has been appre-
ciated.

Independence and After, pp. 369-71: from a
speech at a farewell banquet to Lord and Lady
Mountbatten, New Delhi, June 20, 1948.

248

SRINIVASA RAMANUJAM

Mathematics in India inevitably makes one think of one ex-
traordinary figure of recent times. This was Srinivasa Rama-
nujam. Bom in a poor Brahmin family in South India, having
no opportunities for a proper education, he became a clerk
in the Madras Port Tmst. But he was bubbling over with
some irrepressible quality of instinctive genius and played
about with numbers and equations in his spare time. By a
lucky chance he attracted the attention of a mathematician
who sent some of his amateur work to Cambridge in England.
People there were impressed and a scholarship was arranged
for him. So he left his clerk’s job and went to Cambridge and
during a very brief period there did work of profound value
and amazing originality. The Royal Society of England went
rather out of their way and made him a Fellow, but he died
two years later, probably of tuberculosis, at the age of S3.
Professor Julian Huxley has, I believe, referred to him some-
where as the greatest mathematician of the century.

Ramanujam’s brief life and death are symbolic of condi-
tions in India. Of our millions how few get any education at
all, how many live on the verge of starvation; of even those
who get some education and have nothing to look forward
to but a clerkship in some office on a pay that is usually far
less than the unemployment dole in England. If life opened
its gates to them and offered them food and healthy condi-
tions of living and education and opportunities of growth,
how many among these millions would be eminent scientists,
educationists, technicians, industrialists, vsnriters and artists,
helping to build a new India and a new world?

The Discovery of India, pp. 253-4.

LOKAMANYA T I L A K

Standing here and looking at the face of this indomitable
warrior and scholar, I feel moved and I think of the century
of struggle that this country has passed through, of the
giants of old, who laid the foundations of the freedom of
India, and above all, of Lokamanya . . .

In those crowded years of a life not too long lived he put
in such exceptional energy, ability, strength and sacrifice that
it seems a very long life. Time, after all, is not measured by

249

the passing of years but by what one does, what one feels
and what one achieves. We have in Lokamanya a symbol of
India’s struggle for freedom, and the example of a man who
was not only a brave soldier but a great captain, not a cap-
tain of some organized group but a captain who had to deal
with an India which was rather amorphous, not well organ-
ized, and not even politically very conscious. To shake up
people from their inertia and to bring about mass conscious-
ness, mass awakening and the sense of struggle was, I think,
primarily Lokamanya's task.

So here we find a man of great learning, with wide vision
and far-reaching ideas. He writes about the philosophy of
the Gita, and defines it as the Philosophy of Action. He writes
about the Arctic home of the Vedas. See how his mind travels
long distances. He was not a mere politician, but the neces-
sities of the moment, the shame of living in a country that
was not free, compelled this great scholar to become a states-
man too and throw his weight, his energy and his ability into
the struggle for freedom. This scholar of the elect became
a mass leader and influenced more than one generation of
our people . . .

In those early days there were some young men who in
their spirit of anger and frustration took to the bomb or to
individual acts of terrorism. Lokamanya saw that that was
not the way to achieve success or strength in a country, but
only the way of despair and frustration. And he raised his
voice against it long before Gandhiji did so, and he directed
people’s mind therefore towards mass eiffort and mass
struggle. He looked ahead, and he had a vision even in those
days of a united India about which he spoke and wrote. His
field of battle and of achievement was not a particular comer
of India, but the whole of India. And so he laboured in prison
and out of prison, as many of us, humbler folk, in our much
more limited spheres, laboured subsequently. ... It was an
entirely different matter to be the one and only man to brave
an Empire. To be a single person blazing the trail, not know-
ing who would follow, not knowing what would happen —
that requires supreme courage which only the greatest of
people possess. Lokamanya blazed the trail in so many direc-
tion for this country, laid the foundations of our struggle and
brought in for the first time a mass consciousness. He could

250

imbue a whole people with dynamic energy because of his
own unsurpassed dynamism . . .

India to the youth of that time was what had been pre-
sented by Tilak, through what he said and what he wrote, and,
above all, what he suffered. That was the inheritance that
Gandhiji had to start his vast movements with. If there had
not been that moulding of the Indian people and India’s
imagination and India’s youth by Lokamanya, it would not
have been easy for the next step to be taken. Thus in this
historical panorama we can see one great man after another
coming and performing acts of destiny and history which
have cumulatively led to the achievement of India’s freedom.
We meet here not only to unveil the picture of this great
man, the Father of India’s Revolution, but to remember him
and to be inspired by him.

Speeches (1953-57), pp. 486-9: from speech on
the occasion of the unveiling of the portrait of
Lokamanya Tilak in Parhament, New Delhi,
July 28, 1956.

SARDAK VALLABHBHAI PATEL

History will record many things about him in its pages and
call him the Builder and Consolidator of New India. But,
perhaps, to many of us here he will be remembered as a
great captain of our forces in the struggle for freedom, as one
who gave us sound advice in times of trouble as well as in
moments of victory, as a friend and colleague on whom one
could invariably rely and as a tower of strength that revived
wavering hearts.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 550; from a broadcast
from All-India Radio, New Delhi, December
31, 1950.

KHAN ABDUL GHAFFAR KHAN

Diuring the second Civil Disobedience movement of 1980 the
response from the Moslems was very considerable, though
less than in 1920-23. Among those who were jaded in connec-
tion with this movement there were at least ten thousand
Moslems. The North-West Frontier Province, which is an

251

almost entirely Moslem Province (95% Moslems) played a
leading and remarkable part of this movement. This was
largely due to the work and personality of Klhan Abdul
Ghaffar Khan, the unquestioned and beloved leader of the
Pathans in this Province. Of all the remarkable happenings
in India in recent times, nothing is more astonishing than the
way in which Abdul GhafiFar Khan made his tmrbulent and
quarrelsome people accept peaceful methods of political
action, involving enormous sufiFering. That suffering was
indeed terrible and has left a trail of bitter memories; and
yet their discipline and self-control were such that no act
of violence was committed by the Pathans against the Gov-
ernment forces or others opposed to them. When it is remem-
bered that a Pathan loves his gun more than his brother, is
easily excited, and has long had a reputation for killing at the
slightest provocation, this self-discipline appears httle short
of miraculous.

The Discovery of India, p. 456.

RABINDRANATH TAGORE

The more I think of the wisdom of Gurudev the more aston-
ished I am, even though I ought not to be. Long ago when
many things that he said had not become current coin in this
country, his analysis of the disease, if I may call it a disease,
that was enervating India, and his way of seeking to cure it,
stood out as remarkable prophecies of the shape of things to
come. Three months before his death he wrote his famous
essay ‘Crisis in Civilization’ from which a brief extract has
been quoted by Professor Mahalanobis. I remember reading
it when I was in prison, and I remember how powerfully I
was affected. And I then wondered — ^as I do again listening
to it now — ^how very intimately and precisely what Gurudev
wrote in that essay is applicable today, perhaps even more
so than when he wrote it. Because he was a seer he could see
ahead things yet unborn. Here we are facing this crisis of
civilization and people talk and act more and more in terms
of might and the insolence of power; and others, afraid of
power, line up behind that power. And the good things of
life suffer, the very basis of a decent approach to life — call
it religious, call it spiritual, call it scientific. They are sub-

252

merged in this deluge of hatred and violence and fear. . , .
In Ae final analysis one has to rely on some kind of a basic
faith in the future of man, to which again Gurudev made
such frequent reference. Without that basic faith in some-
thing in man, it would be difficult enough to see or save a
world which is drifting apparently towards an almost irre-
trievable disaster. And yet that basic faith gives one the
strength to survive.

Creativeness, productiveness, a certain sincerity of pur-
pose, a certain depth, are the very things on which here at
Santiniketan and in Vishvabharati, Gumdev laid stress all
the time. He emphasized those thing to which enough atten-
tion is not paid in other institutions of learning. He wanted
to provide the widest possible cultural background so that
the narrowness of spirit and mind would be removed.

Speeches (1953-57), pp. 436-7; from Address
at the Visvabharati Samavartana, Santiniketan,
July 15, 1957.

KAMALA NEHRU

My past life imrolled itself before me and there was always
Kamala, standing by. She became a symbol of Indian women,
or of woman herself. Sometimes she grew curiously mixed
up with my ideas of India, that land of ours which was so
dear to us, with all her faults and weaknesses, and so elusive
and full of mystery. What was Kamala? Did I know her,
understand her real self? Did she know or understand me?
For I too was an abnormal person with mystery and un-
plumbed depths within me, which I could not myself
fathom. Sometimes I had thought that she was a little fright-
ened of me because of this. I had been and was a most un-
satisfactory person to marry. Kamala and I were unlike each
other in some ways, and yet in some other ways very alike;
we did not complement each other. Our very strength
became a weakness in our relations to each other. There
could either be complete understanding, a perfect union of
minds, or difficulties. Neither of us could live a humdrum
domestic life, accepting things as they were.

Among the many pictures that were displayed in the
bazaars in India, there was one containing two separate pic-

253

tures of Kamala and me, side by side, with the inscription at
the top: the model or the ideal couple, as so many people
imagined us to be, but the ideal is so terribly dijBScult to
grasp or hold. I remember telling Kamala, during our hoh-
day in Ceylon, how fortunate we had been in spite of diffi-
culties and differences, in spite of all the tricks Aat life had
played upon us. Marriage was an odd affair, and it had not
ceased to be so even after thousands of years of experience.
We saw around us the wrecks of many a marriage or, what
was no better, the conversion of what was bright and golden
into dross. How fortunate we were, I told her and she agreed,
for though we had sometimes quarrelled and grown angry
with each other, we had kept that vital spark alight, and for
each one of us life was always unfolding new adventure and
giving fresh insight into each other.

The Discovery of India, pp. 34-5.

LENIN

For many days Lenin’s body lay in Moscow. It was winter
and the body was preserved by chemical treatment. From all
over Russia and the distant Siberian steppes came representa-
tives of common folk, peasants and workers, men and women
and children, to pay their last homage to that beloved com-
rade of theii's, who had pulled them out of the depths and
pointed the way to a fuller life. They built him a simple and
unadorned mausoleum in the beautiful Red Square of
Moscow, and there his body lies still in a glass case, and
every evening an unending procession passes silently by.
Since he died, Lenin has become a mighty tradition, not only
in his native Russia but in the world at large. As time passes
he grows greater; he has become one of the chosen com-
pany of the world’s immortals. Petrograd has become Lenin-
grad, and almost every house in Russia has a Lenin comer or
a Lenin picture. But he lives, not in monuments or pictures,
but in the mighty work he did, and in the hearts of hundreds
of millions of workers today who find inspiration in his ex-
ample and the hope of a better day.

Do not imagine that Lenin was an inhuman kind of
machine, wrapped up in his work and thinking of nothing
else. Absolutely devoted to his work and life mission he cer-

254

tainly was, and at the same time wholly without self-
consciousness; he was the very embodiment of an idea. And
yet he was very human, with that most human of all traits,
the capacity to laugh heartily. The British Agent in Moscow,
Lockhart, who was there during the early perilous days of
the Soviet, says that, whatever happened, Lenin was always
in good humour. ‘Of all the public figures I have ever met
he possessed the most equable temperament', says this Brit-
ish diplomat. Simple and straight in his talk and his work,
he was a hater of big words. He loved music, so much so
that he was almost afraid that it might affect him too much
and make him soft in his work.

Glimpses of World Eistonj, Vol. II, pp. 1032-3.

C H AN AKY A

Chanakya has been called the Indian Machiavelli and to
some extent the comparison is justified. But he was a much
bigger person in every way, greater in intellect and action. He
was no mere follower of a king, a humble adviser of an all-
powerful Emperor. A picture of him emerges from an old
Indian play — ^the Mudra-Rakshasa — ^which deals with this
period. Bold and scheming, proud and revengeful, never for-
getting a slight, never forgetting his purpose, availing him-
self of every device to delude and defeat the enemy, he sat
with the reins of empire in his hands and looked upon the
Emperor more as a loved pupil than as a master. Simple and
austere in his hfe, uninterested in the pomp and pageantry
of high position, when he had redeemed his pledge and
accomplished his purpose, he wanted to retire. Brahmin-like,
to a life of contemplation.

The Discovery of India, pp. 132-3.

WINSTON CHURCHILL

The person who really counted was Mr. Winston Churchill,
the new Prime Minister. Mr. Churchill's views on Indian
freedom were clear and definite and had been often repeated.
He stood out as an uncompromising opponent of that free-
dom. In January 1930 he had said: ‘Sooner or later you will
have to crush Gandhi and the Indian Congress and all they

255

stand for/ In December of that year he said: ‘The British
nation has no intention whatever of relinquishing control of
Indian life and progress. . . . We have no intention of casting
away that most truly bright and precious jewel in the Crown
of the King, which more than all our Dominions and Depen-
dencies constitutes the glory and the strength of the British
Empire . . /

That was the crux of the question. India was the Empire;
it was her possesion and exploitation that gave glory and
strength to England and made her a great power. Mr.
Churchill could not conceive of England except as the head
and possessor of a vast empire, and so he could not conceive
of India being free . . .

We remembered his words and knew him to be a stout
and uncompromising person. We could hope for little from
England under his leadership. For all his courage and great
qualities of leadership, he represented the nineteenth cen-
tury, conservative, imperialist England and seemed to be
incapable of understanding the new world with its complex
problems and forces, and much less the future which was
taking shape. And yet he was a big man who could take a
hig step. His offer of a union with France, though made at a
time of dire peril, showed vision and adaptation to circum-
stances and had impressed India greatly. Perhaps the new
position he occupied, with its vast responsibilities, had en-
larged his vision and made him outgrow his earlier prejudices
and conceptions. Perhaps the very needs of the war situation,
which were paramount to him, would compel him to realize
that India’s freedom was not only inevitable but desirable
from the point of view of the war. I remembered that when
I was going to China in August 1939, he had sent me, through
a mutual friend, his good wishes for my visit to that war-
racked country.

The Discovery of India, pp. 529-80.

JAYAPRAKASH NARAYAN

I have never had any doubt about the abihty and integrity
of Jayaprakash Narayan whom I value as a friend and I
am sure that a time will come when he will play a very

256

important part in shaping India’s destiny.

Independence and After, p. 82: from a talV
broadcast from New Delhi, February 14, 1948.

THE PILGRIM IN QUEST OF TRUTH

People will write the life of Gandhi and they will discuss and
criticize him and his theories and activities. But to some of
us, he will remain something apart from theory — a radiant
and beloved figure who ennobled and gave significance to
our petty lives and whose passing has left us with a feeling
of emptiness and loneliness. Many pictures rise in my mind
of this man, whose eyes were often full of laughter and yet
were pools of infinite sadness. But the picture that is domi-
nant and most significant is as I saw him marching, stafiF in
hand, to Dandi on the Salt March in 1930. Here was the
pilgrim on his quest for truth, quiet, peaceful, determined
and fearless, who would continue that quiet pilgrimage, re-
gardless of consequences.

Speeches (1949-53), p. 576: from Foreword to
D. G. Tendulkar’s ‘MAHATMA’.

PAUL ROBESON

I am happy to know that an All India Committee has been
formed under the distinguished chairmanship of Chief Jus-
tice Chagla to celebrate the sixtieth birthday of Paul
Robeson. This is an occasion which deserves celebration, not
only because Paul Robeson is one of the greatest artists of
our generation, but also because it reminds us that art and
human dignity are above differences of race, nationality and
colour. I send all my good wishes to Paul Robeson on this
occasion and I trust that he will have many long years before
him to enrich the world with his great art.

The Hindu, April 9, 1958: from a message sent
on Paul Robeson’s 60th Birthday Celebration
to Mr. Chagla, Chairman, All India Com-
mittee, Bombay.

R

257

The Spirit of Man

THE SPIRIT OF MAN

How amazing is this spirit of man! In spite of innumerable
failings, man, throughout the ages, has sacrificed his life and
all he held dear for in ideal, for truth, for faith, for country
and honour. That ideal may change, but that capacity for
self-sacrifice continues; and, because of that, much may be
forgiven to man, and it is impossible to lose hope for him. In
the midst of disaster he has not lost his dignity or his faith
in the values he cherished. Plaything of nature’s mighty
forces, less than the speck of dust in this vast Universe, he has
hurled defiance at the elemental powers, and with his mind,
cradle of revolution, sought to master them. Whatever gods
there be, there is something god-like in man, as there is also
something of the devil in him.

The future is dark, uncertain. But we can see part of the
way leading to it, and can tread it with firm steps, remem-
bering that nothing that can happen is likely to overcome
ihe spirit of man which has survived so many perils.

The Discovery of India, p. 22.

We may be specks of dust on a soap-bubble universe, but
that speck of dust contained something that was the mind
and spirit of man. Through the ages this has grown and made
itself master of this earth and drawn power from its inner-
most bowels as weU as from the thunderbolt in the skies. It
has tried to fathom the secrets of the universe and brought
the vagaries of nature itself to its use. More wonderful than
the earth and the heavens is this mind and spirit of man
which grows ever mightier and seeks fresh worlds to
conquer.

The Un,ity of India, p. 180.

EASTERN AND WESTERN CONCEPT OF MAN
When there are discussions on the concept of man as visual-

258

ized in the Eastern ideal or the Western ideal, they interest
me greatly from a historical point of view and from a cultural
point of view, although I have always resisted this idea of div-
iding the world into the Orient and the Occident. I do not
believe in such divisions. There have, of course, been differ-
ences in racial and national outlook and in ideals but to talk of
the East and the West as such has little meaning. The modem
West, meaning thereby a great part of Europe and the Amer-
icas, has, more especially dining the last 200 years or so,
developed a particular type of civilization which is based on
certain traditions derived from Greece and Rome. It is, how-
ever, the tremendous industrial growth that has made the
West what it is. I can see the difference between an indus-
trialized and a non-industrialized country. I think the differ-
ence, say, between India and Europe in the Middle Ages,
would not have been very great and would have been com-
parable to the difference between any of the great coimtries
of Asia today.

Speeches (1949-53), pp. 384-5: from Address at
the UNESCO Symposium, New Delhi, Decem-
ber 20, 1951.

MORE HARMONY OF THOUGHT IN OLD DAYS

Probably there was more unity and harmony in the human
personality in the old days, though this was at a lower level
then, except for certain individuals who were obviously of a
very high type. During this long age of transition, through
which humanity has been passing, we have managed to
break up that unity but have not so far succeeded in finding
another. We cling still to the ways of dogmatic religion,
adhere to outworn practices and beliefs, and yet talk and
presume to live in terms of the scientific method. Perhaps
science has been too narrow in its approach to life and has
ignored many vital aspects of it and hence it could not pro-
vide a suitable basis for a new unity and harmony. Perhaps
it is gradually broadening this basis now and we shall achieve
a new harmony for the human personality on a much higher
level than the previous one.

The Discovery of India, p. 203.
259

OUR AGE IS DIFFERENT

Our age is a different one; it is an age of disillusion, of doubt
and uncertainty and questioning. We can no longer accept
many of the ancient beliefs and customs; we have no more
faith in them, in Asia or in Europe or in America. So we
search for new ways, news aspects of the truth more in har-
mony with our environment. And we question each other and
debate and quarrel and evolve any number of ‘isms’ and
philosophies. As in the days of Socrates, we live in an age of
questioning, but that questioning is not confined to a city
like Athens; it is world-wide.

Glimpses of World History, Vol. II, p. 1502.

CHANGE

If we lose touch with the river of change and enter a back-
water, become self-centred and self-satisfied, and, ostrich-
like, ignore what happens -elsewhere, we do so at our peril.

Autobiography, p. 448.

PROGRESS VERSUS SECURITY

There is perhaps a certain conflict always between the idea
of progress and that of security and stability. The two do not
fit in, the former wants a change, the latter a safe unchang-
ing haven and a continuation of things as they are. The idea
of progress is modem and relatively new even in the West;
the ancient and mediaeval civilization thought far more in
terms of a golden past and of subsequent decay. In India
also the past has always been glorified. The civilization diat
was built up here was essentially based on stability and
security, and from this point of view it was far more success-
ful than any that arose in the West. The social structure,
based on the caste system and joint families, served this pur-
pose and was successful in providing social security for the
group and a kind of insurance for the individual who by
reason of age, infirmity or any other incapacity was imable
to provide for himself. Such an arrangement while favouring
the weak hinders, to some extent, the strong. It encourages
the average type at the cost of the abnormal, the bad or the

260

gifted. It levels up or down and individualism has less play
in it. It is interesting to note that while Indian philosophy
highly individualistic and deals almost entirely with the indi-
vidual’s growth to some kind of inner perfection, the Indian
social structure was communal and paid attention to groups
only. The individual was allowed perfect freedom to think
and believe what he liked, but he had to conform strictly
to social and communal usage.

The Discovery of India, p. 157.

A BALANCE MUST BE DISCOVERED

In India, and perhaps in other countries also, there are alter-
nating tendencies for self-glorification and self-pity. Both are
undesirable and ignoble. It is not through sentimentality and
emotional approaches that we can understand life but by a
frank and coiuageous facing of realities. We cannot lose our-
selves in aimless and romantic quests unconnected with life’s
problems, for destiny marches on and does not wait for our
leisure. Nor can we concern ourselves with externals only,
forgetting the significance of the inner life of man. There has
to be a balance, an attempt at harmony between them, "rhe
greatest good’, wrote Spinoza in the seventeenth century, ‘is
the knowledge of the imion which the mind has vwth the
whole of nature. . . . The more the mind knows the better it
understands its forces and the order of nature; the more it
understands its forces or strength, the better it will be able
to direct itself and lay down rules for itself; and ihe more it
understands the order of nature, the more easily it will be
able to liberate itself from useless things; this is the whole
method.’

In our individual lives also we have to discover a balance
between the body and the spirit, and between man as part
of nature and man as part of society. ‘For our perfection’, says
Tagore, ‘we have to be vitally savage and mentally civilized;
we shorild have the gift to be natural with nature and human
with human society’. Perfection is beyond us for it means
the end, and we are always journeying, trying to approach
something that is ever recedhig. And in each one of us are
many different human beings with their inconsistencies and
contradictions, each pulling in a different direction. ... It is

261

difficult to harmonize these contrary tendencies, and some-
times one of them is dominant and sometimes another.

The Discovery of India, pp, 684-5.

MAN NOT A MERE MOUTHPIECE OF A
DIVINEPOWEH

It has always seemed to me a much more magnificent and
impressive thing that a human being should rise to great
heights, mentally and spiritually, and should then seek to
raise others up, rather than that he should be the mouthpiece
of a divine or superior power. Some of the founders of
religions were astonishing individuals, but all their glory
vanishes in my eyes when I cease to think of them as human
beings. What impresses me and gives me hope is the growth
of the mind and spirit of man, and not his being used as an
agent to convey a message.

The Discovery of India, p. 77.

THERE IS SOMETHING IMMORTAL IN MAN

For all our powers of reason and understanding and all our
accumulated knowledge and experience, we know little
enou^ about life’s secrets, and can only guess at its mysteri-
ous processes. But we can always admire its beauty and,
through art, exercise the god-like function of creation.
Though we may be weak and erring mortals, hving a brief
and imcertain span of life, yet there is something of the stuff
of the immortal gods in us. ‘We must not’, says Aristotle,
‘obey those who urge us, because we are human and mortal,
to think human and mortal thoughts; in so far as we may
we should practise immortality, and omit no effort to live in
accordance with the best that is in us’.

The Discovery of India, pp. 685-6.

262

Notes on Personalities

AZAD, MAtTLANA ABUL KALAM

A national leader of Indian Muslims, he played a prominent part
in India’s Freedom Struggle. He was elected President of the
Indian National Congress more than once. He became Minister
for education and culture in the Government of the Indian Union
in 1952 and continued as such until his death.

CHANAKYA

Known also as KautQya, he was the author of the famous classic
of Indian political pMosophy, The Arthasastra. The book was
highly praised by western critics on the appearance of its first
English translation in the beginning of this century.

DAS, DESABANDHU CHITTA RANJAN

An outstanding lawyer of Bengal, he acted as defence counsel in
several famous Indian political trials, including that of Aurobindo
Ghose, the Sage of Pondicherry. Das gave up his huge practice at
the call of M^atma Gandhi in 1921 and threw himself heart and
soul into the Non-cooperation movement. He was co-founder of
the Swarajist Party along with Motilal Nehru and died in 1925,
after being gaoled more than once.

JANAKA

Janaka was the father of Sita, the heroine of the Ramayana.

JINNAH, M. A.

A prominent Muslim leader, he was originally in the Indian
National Congress. Later when Mahatma Gandhi started his
movement for liberating his countr 5 mien, Jinnah seceded from the
Congress and started the Muslim League. He was the first
Governor-General of Pakistan.

KALIDASA

The greatest poet and dramatist in Sanskrit Literature; his play
‘Sakuntala’ earned the highest praise from Goethe. His works are
worthy of being ranked with those of the immortals of the world’s
literature.

263

KHAN, ABDUL GHAFFAK

The acknowledged leader of the Pathans of the North-West
Frontier of India. He became a follower of Mahatma Gandhi
and accepted his creed of non-violence, becoming known as the
‘Frontier Gandhi'. He courted imprisonment during India's
struggle for liberty and is now a citizen of Pakistan.

LAKSHMI BAI, RANI OF JHANSI

One of the principal commanders who led the rebel armies against
the British in the Great Indian Mutiny of 1857. She fought with
conspicuous bravery at the head of her men and was killed
fighting.

NARAYAN, JAYA PRAKASH

Many consider him Jawaharlal Nehru's successor, not only
because of his services and sacrifices in the cause of Indian free-
dom but also because of his unchallenged integrity. Educated in
the United States of America, he played a prominent part in
India's struggle for emancipation. A man of high ideals and daunt-
less courage, he has now devoted himself to the cult of ‘Bhoodan'
propagated by Vinoba Bhave.

NEHRU, MOTILAL

Father of Jawaharlal Nehru. One of India's leading lawyers, he
was a pillar of the Non-co-operation Movement started by
Mahatma Gandhi for winning Swaraj (self-government) for India.
Along with C. R. Das, he founded the Swaraj Party to fight the
British Government from inside the Legislatures. He was elected
President of the Indian National Congress in 1928. A man who
lived a princely life, he was gaoled a number of times before his
death in 1931.

PRASAD, RAJENDRA

A Staunch follower of Mahatma Gandhi since 1915 and a living
example of his philosophy of life, who gave up a lucrative practice
at the Bar and followed his master till India won freedom in
1947. His great humanitarian work after the earthquake of 1934
in Bihar earned him the honour of being the President of the
Congress that year. He was elected President of the Indian Con-
stituent Assembly in 1946 to frame a Constitution for India, He
guided its deliberations with conspicuous ability and success.
When India became a Republic on January 26, 1950 he was unani-
mously elected President. He continues in that exalted office,
having been re-elected after his first term was over.

264

RAMANUJAM, SRINIVASA

An undergraduate of the Madras university, he has been called
by G. H. Hardy, F.R.S., as perhaps, the most remarkable mathe-
matician of modern times'. A petty clerk in the Port Trust Office,
Madras, he was always interested in mathematics problems. His
papers published in the Cambridge Mathematical Gazette
attracted great interest as the work of a genius. The Government
of India, on the recommendation of Mr. Hardy, gave him a
scholarship and sent him to Cambridge to do research. His work
there was highly appreciated and he was awarded the F.R.S.,
being the youngest recipient of it after Faraday. After his return
to India he caught tuberculosis and died at the early age of 33
in 1920.

NEHRU, KAMALA

Wife of Jawaharlal Nehru. In spite of her delicate health she
bravely played her part in the struggle for India's freedom, being
gaoled more than once. The rigours of prison hfe told on her
health and she caught tuberculosis. She was taken for treatment
to Badenweiler in Germany, where she died in 1936.

SHANKARACHARYA

One of the greatest religious teachers of India, he was unrivalled
as an expounder of Hindu religion and philosophy. He gained
a mastery of the Hindu scriptures when he was a mere youth. He
travelled all over India giving lectures and humbling the most
famous scholars of his time from Cape Comorin to Kashmir. He
established four monasteries at the four cardinal points of India
to propagate his teachings which exist even today. His com-
mentaries on the Upanishads and the Bhagvad Gita are famous.
A man of mighty intellect, he has dominated the life and thought
of millions of his countrymen ever since his death at the com-
paratively early age of 32.

TILAK, LOKAMANYA BAL GANGADHAR

A great nationalist leader of India before the advent of Mahatma
Gandhi, he dominated the Indian National Congress till he left it
at its Surat session in 1907. A reputable Sanskrit scholar he wrote
two famous works in gaol, *The Gita Rahasya', which was an inter-
pretation of the Bhagavad Gita and ‘Orion or ‘The Antiquity of
the Vedas’. His vast erudition was appreciated even in the West
by savants like Max Muller, who joined in an appeal to Queen
Victoria to release Tilak before the completion of his first term
of imprisonment in Mandalay jail. Tilak was a mass leader and

265

founded two newspapers, ‘The Mahratta' in English and the
*Kesari' in Marathi, which reached a phenomenal circulation.
‘Swaraj is my birthright', declared Tilak and he suffered and sacri-
ficed everything for it until his death on August 1, 1920.

SABOjmi NAIDU

She has been called the ‘Nightingale of India'. When her poems
written in English first appeared in the early years of this century,
Edmund Gosse declared, ‘She must be given a page in any book
on English Literature'. She gave up poesy for politics and took
an active part in Mahatma Gandhi's movement for India's free-
dom, even going to jail. After India became independent she was
appointed Governor of Uttar Pradesh and died in ofiice in 1949.

RAMACHANDRA

Also known as Sri Rama, he is one of the avatars of Hinduism. To
keep the word of his father Dasaratha inviolate, Sri Rama gave
up his right to the throne on the eve of his coronation and went
away to the forests of Dandakaranya for fourteen years. During
his exile his wife Sita, who shared his sufferings, was carried away
by Ravana, King of Lanka. Sri Rama defeated Ravana in a great
war, brought back Sita and was crowned king at Ayodhya. Sri
Rama is considered to be an ideal king by Hindus and he is the
hero of Valmiki' s epic, The Ramayana.

PATEL, SARDAR VALLABHBHAI

The most renowned and redoubtable lieutenant of Mahatma
Gandhi in India's fight for independence, he was a great organ-
izer and leader of the masses. After the withdrawal of the British
from India on August 15, 1947 he welded and integrated the
princely states, more than 500 in number and in different stages
of autocracy and feudalism, into the Union of India in a peaceful
manner. Far greater than Bismarck to whom he has been com-
pared because of this achievement, he was a man of iron will
and was a tower of strength to Jawaharlal Nehru in the govern-
ance of the country. He died in December 1949, mourned by the
entire sub-continent.

VISVESVARAYYA, Sm M.

India's greatest engineer, he has travelled all over the world to
study conditions in other countries, in order to adapt their
methods to make India great industrially. About 30 years ago he
wrote a remarkable book, ‘Reconstructing India', which contains
a wealth of suggestions for raising India to the level of the great-

266

est Western nations. He celebrated the centenary of his birth in
1960.

YAJNAVALKA

An ancient Hindu sage and law-giver, whose work Yajnavalka
Smriti is still authoritative as a source of Hindu Dharma and
law.

267

Index

Advaita, 186
Afghanistan, 51
Africa, 84

Afro-Asiatic Conference, 14
Ajanta frescoes, 46
Alexander the Great, 13
America, 166, 172, 174, 207, 208.

210, 211, 212, 259, 260
Anacreon, 243
Anand, Mulk Raj, 23
Ananda, 185
Anuradhapura, 108, 191
Apartheid, 95
Arabia, 119
Arabian Sea, 190
Aristotle, 262
Arnold, Matihew, 219
Arthasastra, The, 157
Asia, 47, 51, 53, 84, 85, 147, 170,
171, 172, 173, 174, 194, 211,
212, 259, 260
Asoka, 82, 157
Athens, 260

Atlantic Charter, The, 92
Atma, 35
Australia, 131
Azard, Abul Kalam, 247

Badenweiler, 265

Badrinath, 241

Baghdad Pact, The, 100

Baldwin, Roger, 23

Bandung Conference, The, 14, 84

Barbarossa, Frederic, 157

Barcelona, 106

Barth, 111

Belgium, 106

Bible, The, 226

Bodhi-dhanna, 44

Borneo, 46

Britain — see

British Commonwealth, 96, 97, 98
99, 100 ’

British Constitution, 100

British Parliament, 79
Budiner, George, 222, 223
Buddha, 16, 62, 86, 108, 111,
180, 184, 185, 221
Buddhism, 43, 181
Burke, Edmund, 16
Burma, 51, 82

Calcutta, 82
Cambridge, 13, 123
Cecil, Lord, 76
Cervantes, 107

Ceylon, 51, 97, 108, 190, 191
Chagla, Chief Justice, 257
Chanakya, 255
Childe, Prof., 50

China, 44, 45, 51, 63, 82, 94, 137.

144

Christ, 23, 43, 180
Christianity, 181
Churchill, Winston, 255
Commons, House of, 43
Commonwealth of Nations, 89, 96,
97, 98, 100, 101, 102
Communism, 21, 144, 145
Comorin, Cape, 191, 241
Comte, Auguste, 176
Congress, Indian National, 20.
141

Confucius, 219

Constituent Assembly, The, 49,
151, 158

Constitution, The, 49, 151, 158
Czecho-Slovalda, 105

Dandi Salt March, 257
"Danton’s Tod”, 222
Das, C. R., 243, 244
Dante, 193
Delhi, New, 198
Dharma, 61
Dharmapada, 33
Dvaraka, 241

Eden, 20
Egypt, 195

Eightfold Path, The Aryan, 184
Einstein, Albert, 126, 205
Eisenhower, Dwight D., 24
Elephanta Caves, 46
England, 15, 30, 97, 99, 106, 131,
233, 249, 256

Europe, 51, 77, 105, 106, 110, 131,
166, 171, 172, 173, 174, 211,
212, 243, 259, 260

Fascism, 23, 51, 102, 104, 105,
152

Ferdinand, 107

Five-year Plans, 137, 139, 229
Tour Freedoms’ The, 92
France, 106, 256
French Revolution, 49, 222

Gandhi, Mahatma, 13, 15, 19, 26,
32, 36, 41, 48, 53, 58, 60, 65,
66, 71, 78, 83, 86, 147, 163,
166, 183, 197, 237, 238, 239,
240, 245, 255, 257
Gandhiji — ^see Mahatma Gandhi
Crayatri Mantra, The, 39
Germany, 104

Ghose, Aurobindo, 16, 183, 263
Gita, Bhagavad, 16, 56, 68, 180,
183, 184, 235, 250
Goa, 14

Goethe, 34, 263

Greece, 17, 42, 63, 87, 116, 199,
225, 259
Gurudwara, 235

Hamlet, 21
Harrow, 13

Hellenic spirit, The, 42
Herrenvolk, 104
Himalayas, The, 119, 241
Hitler, 21, 104, 105, 220
Holland, 106
Horace, 243
House of Commons, 43
Humboldt, William Von, 183
Huxley, Aldous, 23
Huxley, Julian, 249
Hungary, 195

India, 14, 16, 18, 20, 21, 22, 25,
27, 30, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43,
44, 46-50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 73,
74, 76, 77, 79, 83, 85, 93, 94,
96, 97, 99, 101, 103-6, 110,
113, 116-19, 129, 136, 137,
141-44, 147, 152, 158, 162-
168, 172, 173, 183, 191, 197,
199-204, 207-10, 218, 225,
228-30, 235, 238-42, 248-51,
256, 260, 261
Indo-China, 14
Indonesia, 16

Indus Valley Civilization, 50

International Brigade, 107

Ireland, 54

Isabella, 107

Islam, 181

Israel, 16

Italy, 193, 240

Janaka, 238
Japanese invasion, 74
Java, 46

Jinnah, M. A., 246, 247
Joad, C. E. M., 46

Kalidasa, 263
Kandy, 191
Kanya Kumari, 191
Karma, 35, 55, 77, 222
Kashmir, 14, 71, 92, 190
Kedamath, 241
Kellog-Briand Pact, 86
Khan, Abdul Ghaffar, 251, 252
Korea, 14

Kripalani, Acharya, 71

Lakshmi Bai, Rani of Jhansi, 244
League of Nations, 89
Leonardo da Vinci, 193
Lenin, 149, 254, 255
Levi, Sylvain, 46
Lincoln, Abraham, 19
Locldiart, 255
London, 96, 97

Macnicol, Dr., 183
Machiavelli, 255

Mahabharata, The, 16, 63, 79, 183
Mahalanobis, Prof., 252

269

Mao, Chairman, 144
Meghaduta^ The, 242
Michael Angelo, 193^

Middle Path, Buddhas, 184
Mill, 16
Milton, 243
Mohenjodoro, 50
Moscow, 254, 255
Mountbattens, The, 247, 248
Mudra-Rakshasa, 255
Mussolini, 105
Mussoorie, 17
Mysore, 241

Naidii, Sarojini, 245, 246
Nalanda, 221
Nanda Devi, 192

Narayan, Jaya Prakash, 21, 25 d,
257

Nazism, 23, 102, 105
Nehru, Kamala, 253, 254
Nehru, Motilal, 36, 240
Nitisara, The, 157 ^

Non-alignment policy, India s,
161, 168

Nuwara Eliya, 191

Oceania, 46

*One World*, 16, 85, 162, 211

Pakistan, 233

Panchsheel, 14, 81, 82, 83, 84
Parliament, 43, 79
Paris, 14, 49
Parmenides, 126
Patel, Sardar Vallabhbhai, 251
Pater, Walter, 29
PEN, 228
Persia, 46, 51
Petrarch, 193
Philip of Macedon, 13
Planning, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139
Planck, Max, 126
Planning Commission, 20, 139,
242

Plato, 210
Purdah, 198, 199
Puri, 241

Quantum Theory, The, 126
^een s English, 22

Radhakrishnan, Dr. S., 16
Rajagopalachari, Chakravarti, 19
Rajendra Prasad, 244, 245
Ramachandra, 201
Ramanujam, Srinivasa, 249
Ramayana, The, 16
Raphael, 193
Relativity, Theory of, 126
Rig Veda, The, 183
Robeson, Paul, 257
Rome, 17, 63, 259
Roosevelt, F. D., 19
Roosevelt, Mrs. 212
Royal Society, The, 249
Ruskin, 16

Russell, Bertrand, 126
Russia, Soviet, 49, 72, 82, 149,
254

Russian Revolution, 149
Ryder, Artlmr, 242

Salt March, Dandi, 257
Santiniketan, 253
Saugor, 116
Savitri, 201

Shankaracharya, 241, 242

Shelley, 243

Siberia, 46

Sicily, 87

Sita, 201

Smith, Vincent, 45
Socotra, 46
Socrates, 33, 180, 260
Sophocles, 243
South Africa, 97
Soviet Union, 72, 144
Spain, 105, 107
‘Speaker*, Mr., 43
Spinoza, 261
Sringeri, 241
Sudan, 94
Sukra^arya, 157
Swinburne, 240

Tagore, Rabindranath, 16, 40, 47,
261

‘Tennis Court, Oath of The*, 49
Thoreau, 16
Thucydides, 87

Tflak, Lokamanya, 183, 249, 250,
251

Tolstoy, 16
Trade Unions, 131

270

Trimufti, The, 46
Tunisia, 94
Tyagi, Hon. Mr., 79

Ukase, 156
UNESCO, 94

United Nations, The, 14, 58, 84,
85, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95,
104, 173

United States of America, The,
19, 91, 163, 166, 170, 195,
207, 208, 209, 210, 212
Upanishads, The, 16, 39, 63, 180
U.S.S.R., 49, 91

Vedas, The, 16, 183, 250
Vedanta, The, 186, 187
Virgil, 249

Virgin Goddess, The, 191
Visvabharati, 253
Visvesvarayya, Sir M., 242
Voltaire, 182

Washington, George, 19
Wilde, Oscar, 25
Wilson, Woodrow, 19
Wordsworth, 114
World Government, 58, 59, 91

Yajnavalka, 238
Yugo-slavia, 82

Zetland, Marquis of, 43

271

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